Inward Investment

Locate in Kent Ltd, Kent and Medway’s investment promotion agency, maintains a database that holds details of the property requirements of companies looking to relocate to or expand in Kent. It also maintains a web-based commercial property database that provides a good indication of Kent and Medway’s commercial property supply.

Total office and industrial property demand by sub-region, June 2009

Property demand by size range, June 2009

Property demand

Between April 2008 and March 2009, 246 new projects were logged by Locate in Kent Ltd, of which 165 had known property or land requirements, 75 for industrial property, 79 for office accommodation and 11 for land. At the end of June 2009, there were 292 active projects. Of these, 186 had a potential requirement for property of up to a total of 255,118m2 (2.7mft²).

By March 2009, 76 companies had been successfully assisted by Locate in Kent Ltd to invest in Kent and Medway. The total area of property occupied was 138,765m2 (1.5mft²) - of which 85,468m² (920,000ft²) was taken by Morrisons. The average take-up was 2,352m2 (25,316ft²), - nearly three times as much as in 2007-2008.

During the first quarter of 2009-2010, a further 77,812m2 (837,563ft²) was occupied by 20 companies (14 office and 6 industrial) with take-up of industrial property continuing to dominate at 92% of total property occupied.

Total potential demand for office space in June 2009 reached 56,693m2 (610,248ft²), which was down by 48% on 2008. 84 companies made 137 enquiries for office property. The highest demand (28%) was in Channel Corridor and West Kent, with Thames Gateway Kent 23% and East Kent 21%. The total number of industrial projects seeking property was 92. These companies made 184 enquiries, which led to demand for industrial space of 286,729m2 (3mft²). 34% of area enquiries for industrial properties were in Thames Gateway Kent, with Channel Corridor 27%, East Kent 18% and West Kent 21%.

As in 2008, smaller office properties were the most sought after. 78% of office demand was for properties of under 464m2 (5,000ft²). The average minimum requirement was 396m2 (4,261ft²) in 2009 compared to 542m2 (5,831ft²) in 2008.

Demand for industrial property decreased in 2009 to 286,729m2 (3.1mft²) from 364,010m2 (3.9mft²) in 2008. In both 2008 and 2009, the most popular industrial property size was 93-464m2 (1,001-5,000 ft²), which accounted for 36% and 26% of totals respectively in each year.

Locate in Kent Ltd deals with a wide variety of companies from a number of different industry sectors. Among office projects, business services and construction and property accounted for 49% of all office demand (30% and 19% respectively), compared to 36% in 2008. The average size of financial services property demand was approximately twice that for business services (an average of 1,133m2 (12,191ft²) for the financial services sector compared to 323m2 (3,475ft²) for the business services sector).

At the end of June 2008 industrial demand was dominated by five sectors - manufacturing, transport and logistics, engineering and food and agriculture, but at the end June 2009, demand was dominated by manufacturing, which represented 21% of the industrial demand for property (24,786m2 (266,697ft²)), followed by engineering (16,722m2 (179,929ft²)) transport and logistics (23,133m2 (248,911ft²)) and construction and property (17,420m2 (187,439ft²)).

Property demand by sector, June 2009

Property supply

At the end of June 2009, a total of 1,341 properties were registered on Locate in Kent Ltd’s property database, compared to 1,132 at the end of June 2008. 48% of these were industrial properties, compared with 51% in 2008. The greatest number of properties overall were available in Channel Corridor (30%) followed by Thames Gateway Kent and West Kent (both 26% of the Kent total).

Channel Corridor offered the greatest number of industrial properties (30%) and office properties (31%). Thames Gateway Kent had 29% of industrial and 24% of office properties. East Kent had 19% of industrial properties and 16% of office properties and West Kent had 21% of industrial properties and 30% of office properties.

At the end of June 2009, 92% of the office properties available were less than 464m2 (5,000ft²), which is an increase of 4% compared to June 2008.

For industrial properties, as for office properties, the most commonly available sizes were at the lower end of the size scale, with property under 464m2 (5,000ft²) accounting for 70% of all available industrial properties.

Major developments

Office take up during 2008-2009 included Saga signing off a new contact centre facility of 2,310m² (24,870ft²) to accommodate 150 new staff at Cheriton Park, near Folkestone. At Kings Hill, AB World Foods committed to 1,279m² (13,767ft²), The Conveyancing Channel, part of the MDA Group, expanded their operation by 639m² (6,874ft²) and Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald exchanged on 1,913m² (20,591ft²). In Ashford the Education Travel Group announced the purchase of 17,186m² (185,000ft²) to set up their latest educational centre.

Industrial take up during 2008-2009 included Electrobase RP relocating into Dartford and taking 1,950m² (21,000ft²) and Davies and Davies Holdings leasing a 3,900m² (42,000ft²) facility on Gillingham Business Park. CCL, based in Ashford, gained planning permission to expand their UK HQ by 1,394m² (15,000ft²), Leonard Gould is expanding into new premises of 3,438m² (37,000ft²) and Alpha Heating Innovation expanded its UK operations in Kent with a warehousing facility at Aylesford of 5,574m² (60,000ft²). In East Kent, the Online Catering Company purchased a facility in Thanet of 3,252m² (35,000ft²) and Roe Ltd took 3,479m² (37,451ft²) in Margate.

Property supply by area, June 2009

Property supply by size bracket, June 2009