Liverpool plots strategy for underperforming Spine
Despite achieving a WELL Platinum rating, the Liverpool office block still has six floors empty more than two years after it opened.
The Spine sits within Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter and includes the Royal College of Physicians as an anchor tenant. RCP is leasing seven floors, while Clatterbridge Cancer Hospital has taken one.
That leaves six of the building’s 14 storeys available, which roughly equates to 70,000 sq ft. These are ‘shell’ floors and devoid of any fittings.
Despite receiving “lots of enquires” since The Spine opened in 2021, a city council report states that joint agents CBRE and Knight Frank have been unsuccessful in securing a tenant for these floors.
A city council cabinet report outlines a few strategies for turning things around at The Spine, with a goal to have two of the six floors occupied by October 2024, another two by March 2025, and the final two by October 2025.
To help boost The Spine’s appeal, the city council is seeking to spend £2.9m to fit-out up to three of the empty floors – a move that it hopes will attract tenants who are looking for a more desk-ready space. Part of the fit-out plans could also include dividing half of one of the floors into smaller suites.
Not having available fitted-out floors has already cost The Spine some future lettings, according to the report.
“Some recent specific enquiries for The Spine have halted or not progressed, either due to the complexity of the tenant having to undertake a full fit-out and the timescales required, or simply because they wanted smaller, more desk-ready space,” the report reads.
Should a company enquire about space and not want one that has been fitted out, the council would offer it at an initial rate that is below market rent.
If the cabinet approves this plan, the city council would seek to award a fit-out contract this autumn, with work to complete by March 2024.
Another option pitched to the cabinet includes increasing Sciontec’s flex workspace offering at The Spine. The company currently has two floors of serviced workspace at The Spine.
Should councillors be less inclined to undertake any of these strategies, the report offers a warning.
“To do nothing is not an option,” it reads. “Maintaining the current approach and marketing remaining floors as single open plan floorplates in a shell condition will not accelerate lettings in The Spine.”
