MIPIM IN FOCUS | Q&A with Jill Goodman

Place Yorkshire caught up with Jill Goodman, principal at Avison Young, at MIPIM to talk about the Leeds office market, and prominent trends and themes both at home and in Cannes.

To say Yorkshire is absent at MIPIM this year would not be true, but it also wouldn’t be far wrong. Of course there are developers around with projects in the county – Tom Bloxham of Urban Splash has been a high profile presence and Citu’s Jonathon Wilson has similarly been representing the region – but in terms of councils or combined authorities, the absence is notable.

Hence my relief to meet up with Jill Goodman, who, although having taken up a national role on Avison Young’s lead advisory team, is well-placed to discuss Yorkshire: the trends most affecting the region for industrial and offices, rents, and predictions for the future.

What are you focusing on here at MIPIM?

What I personally am interested in is investment in development in the North. I want to speak to investment funds to see if they are in our region and if not, why not?

I am also interested in all the repurposing of offices, and this journey towards net zero and everything associated with that, and what it means practically. Already this morning, I’ve had a conversation with a developer who’s developing some built to rent accommodation in Leeds, and at the same time we were chatting with an architect who was talking about reusing steel. I’ve heard of repurposing and recycling and lots of different facets, but I didn’t realise that buildings would be taken apart and then the steel would physically be taken and used in a new development. There’s all sorts of new ideas that are going to become a common language over the next few years, so I’m interested in furthering my own development in terms of learning.

Are there any key themes that are prominent for you this year at MIPIM?

The return to offices is a theme that’s been ongoing, and how true is that, and how evenly is that matched across different locations in the UK? What we’ve seen in Leeds is some of the office spaces from the market over the last couple of years, some of the repurposed buildings like Bruntwood SciTech’s West Village, is an example of this trend of returning to the office.

In terms of offices, what trends are at the forefront for you?

My perspective of the market is more from a tenant’s perspective when it comes to the office market, and in the Leeds region. The big trends there are the same that are being replicated across all the regions, really: occupiers are looking for better quality accommodation when they move and the majority of requirements that we handle are for grade A supply.

What it means for me and the people I’m working for, is there’s a real shortage of supply of the best stock. I’m actively working properties at the moment who have leases coming up in 2027 and 2028, so looking that bit further ahead of time to advise on what will be coming forward.

When I was acting for Ernst Young, for example, who is based in 12 Wellington Place, before the building was completed we knew there wasn’t going to be a wealth of options, so we got in early to speak to MEPC about taking space there and we were able to secure that.

We saw last year the biggest theme in terms of occupier types was education, including 50,000 sq ft taken by NHS Teaching Trust, and 50,000 sq ft taken by Leeds Trinity.

Where [Leeds] has been a bit slower to the market is co-working space. We have, for example X+Why with about 30,000 sq ft at Bridgewater Place, but we’ve maybe been a bit more behind the curve there.

And what will happen with the ‘grade B’ office stock – is the answer refurbishment?

We always want investment in development. I’m really passionate about the region I live in, and everyone’s prospects in the city. There’s a trickle-down effect from the highly paid, highly skilled jobs down through the entire economy.

So I’m really passionate about Leeds having a strong development pipeline supply of new buildings, and what’s also really key is refurbishment and repositioning existing buildings. It’s great from an embodied carbon angle.

There is a number of 1990s buildings that have been let to single tenant occupiers, who will probably be moving out at the end of 25-year leases very soon. Some of those will offer great prospects for repositioning and being comprehensively refurbished.

One example of that is Princess Exchange, but there are many others in the city centre. I want to see the city centre full of life, full of thriving businesses, and the way to achieve that is the substantial refit of some of those buildings.

And is sustainability still a key consideration for tenants?

We are starting to see tenants who, rather than just saying ‘good sustainability credentials’, or ‘a nice green building’, are starting to define what that means for them and get specific, and that’s quite new. For example, they will request a fully electric building, no gas at all. So, already when I’m looking at a short list of buildings, I’m striking off three options, if not more, due to specific criteria.

And finally, rents – what is happening with Leeds office rents and do you have any predictions for the upcoming year?

There isn’t much stock available [in Leeds] so we need the development pipeline to keep coming through, and for that to happen, that involves tenants accepting that rental values will be wherever they will be to cover the costs of that development.

Last year we had a step change in prime rent. It’s over £40 now in Leeds, and next year I expect another gear change in terms of rent values because as stock goes down, that will put pressure on rental values. It could go to around £50 but I don’t have specific data on that. But availability is 2.3% and Leeds availability of the whole we’ve estimated at around 8%.