This year may well have started out slowly in terms of commercial property activity but as the month’s progressed interest grew to the extent that we are ending on a high and this looks as though it will extend well into 2015, says Haydn Thomas, of Hutchings & Thomas Chartered Surveyors.

And nowhere was the increase in commercial activity more evident, both in terms of rental and acquisitions, than in Gold Tops in the heart of the city of Newport’s commercial district with around 20,000 sq ft let or sold this year.

One of the most prominent buildings in the district, 10 Gold Tops, which had been empty for a year, has been acquired in a £238,000 deal which will see a firm of Cardiff architects relocating to Newport.

The professional firm will occupy most of the four storey building with extra space marketed to attract other but similar occupiers.

The adjacent office building, number 9 Gold Tops, is at the centre of an exciting redevelopment and extension scheme which could see the building, which was acquired for £240,000 by Silver Crescent Developments, re-emerge after considerable investment as a collection of high-class apartments served by parking and landscaped grounds subject to planning.

At the other end of the road, the former offices of Newport Unlimited Norwich House, 1 & 2 Gold Tops, have been let to Network Rail and ABC Electrification.

The 8,038 sq ft letting, one of the largest in a decade in the city, will see more than 100 highly-skilled people occupy the building as part of the rail electrification project for the South Wales mainline.

Opposite that building the former magistrates courts at Pentonville and previous to that Lord Tredegar's estates office has emerged after a complete transformation into high-qualtiy office space, which just a few month after completion is now almost completely let.

The Grade II listed building, in total offering some 5,000 sq ft, where Hutchings & Thomas have our offices, is also home to a architect's practice, which expanded here from Gloucester choosing the city over rival but less appealing locations in Cardiff, and other professional businesses including Parade Design and David Barnes Public Relations.

The purchase by Welsh Water of 28 West Celtic Springs Business Park, previously known as CS 3000, is another building block in the increasing wall of confidence in Newport.

The £9m, 35,000 sq ft office block was speculatively built by AWG Property and Robert Hitchins in a joint venture on the back of a surge of interest in the £100m business park some six years ago.

The three-storey, six-wing building created a fair amount of interest, from both the private and public sectors, over the time that it has been ready for occupation but that time coincided with the property sector flat lining and the UK undergoing its deepest and longest recession in modern times.

Now, the Grade A office has been acquired by Welsh Water and 400 of its workers are set to move in very shortly.

Although the owners of the building are said to have had to part with the office block for a lower return than they had hoped, it is nevertheless a sign that at long last things are improving and which has caused others looking at Newport as a location to refocus their attention.

As good as the deal may have be it does cause a bit of headache as this leaves Newport severely bereft of grade A office space to offer the next occupiers that comes looking.

The deal appears to have ignited the blue touch paper in terms of general interest and we are at the moment handling enquiries for circa 5,000 sq ft +, from a number of blue chip companies centring interest in Newport.

Newport, with its average headline rental of £8-£12 psf, is considered highly competitive when compared to Cardiff and Bristol at £17psf upwards. Capital levels in Newport at around the £75-£95 mark are way below Cardiff so it doesn’t take a genius to see where the smart money is heading.

In fact you only have to look around the city to see that capital acquisition and investment is very much alive and kicking at the end of 2014 in Newport this looks well set for 2015.

We also have the full impact of the Friars Walk scheme to look forward to this coming year and also the continuing beneficial influence in our city of the Admiral factor.

A Happy Christmas and a very prosperous 2015 to you all.