Birmingham office market records strong start to 2024

KWB’s latest Birmingham office market review shows a strong start to 2024, with Q1 delivering take up of 200,282 sq ft across 19 deals, 11 per cent above the 10-year Q1 average.

The largest deal of the quarter saw the BBC take 84,000 sq ft at Typhoo Wharf in Digbeth. The second largest deal in Q1 was from University College Birmingham, taking 44,670 sq ft at the Grade ll listed Baskerville House.

Top performing sectors for the quarter included education, healthcare, media and professional services, with the latter accounting for 32 per cent of transactions.

The flight to quality continued, with occupiers showing a preference for high-end workspaces with amenities and services to support a positive working culture and employee retention. High priced office space in Birmingham city centre has been found to be 85 per cent to 100 per cent fully occupied, while space with fewer amenities is only 35-55 per cent occupied.

In line with this trend, high quality refurbishments continued across the city. Q1 saw the completion of major refurbishment works at 36 Great Charles Street in the Colmore Business District.

120 Edmund Street also secured planning permission from Birmingham City Council for an extensive refurbishment, with three new floors added to create a 176,000 sq ft, 11-storey building called The Drapery. Developer Canmoor is targeting BREEAM Excellent, EPC A and a Nabers rating of 4 stars for the office development.

Legal & General also purchased One Temple Row in Q1 2024, which sits next to the former Rackhams building which it already owns. One Temple Row is a 105,000 sq ft mixed-use building with around 64,000 sq ft of offices.

Malcolm Jones, head of office agency at KWB, said: “These results put is in a promising position for Q2, as key developments and existing office refurbishment works take shape.

“The education sector continues to be a consistently successful sector in the city, as does healthcare, which saw the NHS take 11,270 sq ft at Alpha and Dental Specialists Ltd expand into a larger 8,724 office space at 24-25 Calthorpe Road in Edgbaston.

“With many of the larger companies now having made their city centre move to prime new office space, inward investment will be key to capitalise on the strength of Birmingham’s local occupational market.”