A RECORD take-up of office space in Edinburgh in the first half of the year, has already surpassed the total for the whole of 2016.

Figures from property group CBRE also show steady up-take in Glasgow. In Aberdeen, there have been further energy sector acquisitions as signs of recovery in the North Sea market drive momentum in the city.

Edinburgh has seen numerous pre-lets signed during the first half, which resulted in a total take-up of 739,860 sq ft.

This was driven largely by the Scottish Government taking 181,307 sq ft at Artisan Real Estate’s New Waverley scheme, through its property division, GPU.

The market was strong even prior to the GPU deal with a 65,628 sq ft letting at Quartermile 3 to State Street Bank, the largest letting to a bank in Edinburgh city centre since 2003.

Discounting pre-let deals, transaction volume was 432,000 sq ft.

In Glasgow, the take up reached 234,284, which is down 43 per cent on the same period in 2016 – which was among the strongest six-month periods on record. Compared to the second half off 2016, the figure is down six per cent.

The largest deals of the year to date was Student Loans Company taking 40,853 sq ft at the Europa Building on Argyle Street.

In Aberdeen, the 240,704 sq ft take-up was 82 per cent up on the last six months of 2016.

Take-up was significantly boosted by Total’s acquisition of 138,535 sq ft at the West Campus building at Westhill.