Savills reports increase in Cambridge office and lab take-up

The agent says this uptick can be partly attributed to Arm leasing 95,000 sq ft of office space at The Optic, Peterhouse Technology Park – its current HQ campus. This was the largest leasing transaction across both office and laboratory specifications since 2021.

Leasing activity has been predominantly derived from smaller occupiers, with only four transactions above 10,000 sq ft. The largest laboratory letting in the first half of the year was Frontier acquiring 18,000 sq ft at South Cambridge Science Centre on a shell and core basis.

The investor will provide incubation space for its portfolio companies at the development. Both of the aforementioned schemes have been speculatively developed, highlighting the demand for best-in-class space across the market.

Venture capital funding has rebounded more significantly in Cambridge when compared to Oxford, with £545 million raised by science and tech occupiers within the region.

Notable beneficiaries included CMR Surgical and Maxion Therapeutics, who raised £155 million and £58 million respectively. The latter leased an additional 9,000 sq ft of fully fitted laboratory space at Unity Campus in Q2 2025, which doubled its footprint at the scheme.

Startup CuspAI, just named Business of the Year in the Business Weekly Awards, raised $100 million in August - the company was only formed in 2024 - highlighting the scale of VC targeting the AI sector.

A further boost for start-ups based in Cambridge that are seeking VC, was evident in the recent announcement of Cambridge Innovation Capital committing at least £100 million to invest in spinouts from the University of Cambridge.

This investment is part of the wider Fund III that is seeking to deploy £250 million of early stage VC into the Cambridge ecosystem.

Looking forward, there are currently 705,000 sq ft of active requirements across both office and laboratory property types.

It is expected that the delivery of CamLIFE 1-3 and Sidney Sussex Building, Chesterford Research Park in H2 2025, which provide a combined total of 220,000 sq ft of fully fitted laboratory space, will enable an increase in take-up of this specification type, with the supply of this product historically constrained.

Savills reports that the Oxford market remains fundamentally strong despite a drop in take-up recorded across the market in the first half of the year. H1 2025 saw 107,000 sq ft of take-up, marking a 57 per cent decline year-on-year and 55 per cent below the five-year average.

Macroeconomic uncertainty continues to restrict venture capital deployment, leading to paused requirements from early-stage start-ups and dampening short-term take-up, according to Savills. However, the outlook for H2 2025 is more positive, it says, with 82,000 sq ft currently under offer and 393,000 sq ft of active office and laboratory requirements.