Just under 800,000 sq ft of commercial space was under offer across the London-Oxford-Cambridge Golden Triangle at the end of July, promising a return to form for the market after a dip in leasing activity in Q2, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
GSK is agreed to take a 300,000 sq ft new R&D centre at Discovery Drive, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Life science take-up across the Golden Triangle stood at 175,000 sq ft in Q2, 8% below the five-year quarterly average and 57% below the surge in Q1.
However, at the close of Q2, 779,200 sq ft was under offer, including GSK’s proposed deal for a 300,000 sq ft new R&D centre at Discovery Drive on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Cushman & Wakefield said that should these deals be completed as expected, leasing in H2 2026 could return to the stronger levels recorded across the previous two quarters.
In Q2, London lead leasing activity, accounting for 56% of the quarterly volume with five deals totalling 98,300 sq ft. The majority of this came from an unnamed occupier taking the 85,000 sq ft Jahn Court in the Regent Quarter Campus.
Cambridge recorded 48,500 sq ft across three deals, while two deals in oxford added 28,200 sq ft.
Prime quoting rents held steady across the three cities for the fifth consecutive quarter, at £140/sq ft in London, £77/sq ft in Cambridge and £70/sq ft in Oxford.
C&W rates all three markets as ‘under pressure’ as space remains constrained, with elevated construction and financing costs, geopolitical uncertainty and higher vacancy rates constraining speculative development.
Despite this, at the close of Q2, 2.9m sq ft of laboratory space was under construction across the Golden Triangle, with around 2.2m sq ft of speculative space scheduled for completion over the next three years.
Development continues to moderate, the report said, with the volume under construction at its lowest level since Q1 2024. Planning consent has been secured for a further 4.2m sq ft, which should be developed by 2029.
The report says UK life science companies raised just over £2bn in venture capital in Q2, the strongest quarter for VC investment in over a year, up 135% on Q1 and 102% above the five-year quarterly average.
Golden Triangle life sciences investment volumes totalled £160m from two transactions, the largest being British Land’s acquisition of the Life Sciences REIT portfolio for £150m, while Wrenbridge and Investec Realis acquired a three-acre site in North Cambridge from the Coulson Building Group for £10m, with plans to develop it into a commercial and life sciences hub.
C&W said investment during H1 reflected a challenging environment and while there are early signs of improving sentiment, it warned that expectations of a marked recovery “should remain measured”.
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