Manila office building hits 26-year high on outsourcing boom

Manila

PHILIPPINE builders are adding the most office space in Manila in at least 26 years, catering to companies such as American Express Co and International Business Machines Corp that are outsourcing more jobs to the South-east Asian nation.

About 710,000 square metres of office space will be built in the Philippine capital this year and more than 780,000 square metres in 2017, broker Colliers International estimates. Each is a record for work space built in a year and when combined represents a fifth of the stock at the end of 2015, according to the broker's data stretching back to 1990.

"Demand for office space from the outsourcing sector is still very high, and we are answering this demand," said Josefino Lucas, deputy chief operatin…