■  The only grade A deal above 5,000 sq ft this year was Benefit Cosmetics leasing 12,500 sq ft at the 1912 Building on New Street. The building is located on the former Marconi factory site, which is being transformed into a new mixed use development by Bellway.

^{Source: Savills Research}

■  There are currently only two city centre sites where development is actively being brought forward, the previously mentioned Marconi site and City Park West, which is the former Anglia Ruskin central campus site. Both these developments are residential led. CM2 is a 45,000 sq ft new office development on the Colchester Road, which is being brought forward by the Anderson Group, pre-lets are currently being sought at the moment. Savills are joint leasing agents.

■  Chelmsford has historically attracted back office functions from central London occupiers, primarily because of the fast train links (35 minutes to Liverpool Street) into central London and the highly skilled local workforce. Notable back office occupiers include Aon and M&G Investments. Savills expect this trend to continue into 2016 as there is currently a 40,000 sq ft requirement from a City of London occupier who is seeking to relocate their back office. If this requirement was fulfilled it would be realistic to expect total Chelmsford take-up in 2016 to exceed 2015.

■  Total supply currently stands at 190,000 sq ft however only 14,745 sq ft is of grade A quality. This underlines the shortage of grade A space available in the Chelmsford market. However in 2016 there will be an additional 60,000 sq ft of available grade A stock added to the market, this will be in the form of comprehensive refurbishments of existing buildings. This newly added grade A space will be located in the city centre. It is estimated that 125,000 sq ft of office stock has been converted to residential uses since 2014.

^{Source: Savills Research}

■  Dwindling supply which has been accelerated by the extension of the permitted development rights and continued demand for office space which is evident from the 100,000 sq ft of office requirements currently circulating the market is causing prime rents to increase. Savills expects prime city centre rents to reach £25 per sq ft in 2016. We expect increased activity from the professional services sector in 2016 with demand focusing on city centre office space.

^{Source: Savills Research}