Uncertainty over the past year caused some companies to press pause on plans to relocate or resize their operations.

But growing confidence is again spurring such decisions, with occupier interest in new, high-grade buildings on the rise.

“Companies are deciding that it now is the right time to make some significant changes to their business plans and consequently, their existing footprints,” says Nick Compton, head of corporate capital markets, EMEA at JLL. “And investors are increasingly stepping in to develop their real estate.”

Pre-leasing of space has become more common alongside a broader rise in sale-and-leaseback activity, Compton says.

“It requires conviction and confidence and an ability to look beyond the current uncertainty – and that applies just as much to landlords as it does to occupiers.”

From industrial and logistics to data centres, activity is rising. Europe’s largest ever build-to-suit scheme for a single occupier was agreed by Jaguar Land Rover in January. The 2.94 million square feet logistics centre in the UK is being forward-funded by global asset manager Intermediate Capital Group’s sale-and-leaseback fund.

In Scotland, Aberdeen Standard Investments is forward funding the £110 million (US$ 152 million) sale and leaseback of Next’s new distribution centre.

Late last year, Iron Mountain and AGC Equity Partners agreed to a €300 million (US$417 million) forward-funding arrangement to develop a new 280,000 square feet data centre in Frankfurt pre-leased to a U.S.-based Fortune 100 company.