A STILL relatively small but increasingly important player in the lettings market is the creative industries sector.

During Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year in 2008, there was a surge of lettings from creative businesses and organisations.

The final figure for the central business district (CBD) was 21,463 sq ft. This, not surprisingly, fell in 2009 to 14,352 sq ft.

However, this was still a big improvement on the 11,992 sq ft recorded in 2006 and the authors of the Liverpool Commercial Office Market Review believe this indicates an underlying growing demand for space.

The creative sector has been identified as a key growth sector for the region by both the Northwest Development Agency and The Mersey Partnership.

The market review report states: “The creative, media and IT sector accounted for 2.8% of total CBD office take-up in 2009 – the same proportion as in 2006.

“If the distorting influences of the UK Border Agency letting are discounted, the sector accounted for 5.6% of take-up, reinforcing the impression that underlying demand in this sector has grown.”

The city fringe and out-of-town office markets saw lettings from the sector during 2009 of 29,294 sq ft, 14.6% of the total take-up and down from 20% in 2008. The report added: “Combining out-of-town, city fringe and CBD take-up shows that the creative, media and IT sectors occupied 43,826 sq ft.

“This amounts to 6.1% of total take-up, down on the 14.6% we reported in 2008.

“However, this figure is a poor guide thanks to the distorting effect of the large letting to the UK Border Agency and we would expect a return to trend in 2009.”