The growing demand for office space in Manchester will maintain
the city's position as the UK's biggest regional centre outside
London, according to property company GVA.

GVA suggests that Manchester should continue to make strides
after its "robust" 2010 performance by leading the way in drawing
new business to its commercial property space.

The agency published its latest report on the UK's 'Big Nine'
major cities outside the capital and predicts that Glasgow, Bristol
and Cardiff would perform strongly in the coming year, while
Birmingham and Edinburgh would continue to enhance their business
standing.

The same report notes that the 'Big Nine' accounted for
6,700,000 sq ft of commercial office space, a 10 per cent increase
on 2009, while Manchester alone accounted for more than one million
sq ft.

GVA director Chris Cheap said: "2010 was a robust year for the
Manchester office market with Grade A take-up at unprecedented
levels thanks to, amongst others, Co-op signing up to their new
headquarters building and DWF moving into Spinningfields.

"Whilst the overall figure is encouraging it should be noted
that the quantum of transactions is not as high as previous years,
suggesting that whilst occupier confidence is returning we have not
entered full recovery mode in all sectors of the market.

"The signs are promising for 2011 with evidence of significant
'pre-let' activity which will not only aid in replicating last
year's numbers, but also help to deliver much-needed built Grade A
stock into the marketplace to meet the latent demand."

Manchester was last year ranked as the second-best place to do
business across the UK. Our Manchester
commercial properties to let can provide a commercial and
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