Birmingham office market continues post-Covid bounce - report
Birmingham 's office market continues to perform well as the city maintains a post-Covid bounce exceeding 10-year average take up by 41 per cent totalling 376,000 sq ft.
That 's according to real estate advisor Avison Young 's latest Big Nine office market report.
The quality of the office space is an area of focus for Birmingham, as it ranks first for cities outside of London for demand of Grade A property - accounting for 85 per cent of activity.
Hosting two of the largest deals outside of London, Birmingham has had strong individual development wins throughout Q3.
Aviva Investors sold Colmore Gate for £39.5m, ranking as the fourth largest investment deal outside of London throughout the quarter.
It also saw the third-largest occupier deal outside of London with engineering consultancy, Arup, taking 68,479sq ft at One Centenary Way, part of phase two of the wider scale Paradise development.
City centre take-up in Birmingham amounted to 242,901sq ft in Q3, 16 per cent growth on Q2 take up which amounted to 203,499 sq ft.
Workspace providers are capitalising on occupiers ' increased desire for flexibility. New entrant to Birmingham, X+why, has committed to management agreements on 34,500 sq ft at 103 Colmore Row and 40,616 sq ft at 6 Brindleyplace, which was vacated by WeWork.
They will be joined by recently merged wealth management firm Tilney Smith Williamson, 12,000 sq ft, at 103 Colmore Row.
Carl Potter (pictured), principal and managing director of the Birmingham Office at Avison Young, said: “Birmingham continues the upward trajectory we have started to see develop throughout 2021 as Coronavirus restrictions ease and people have been returning to the office.
“The city has managed to maintain the bearing of a bigger performance in Q3, expanding on the promising activity experienced in Q2. With further deals in the pipeline and the great work taking place in areas such as Colmore Row and Paradise, I'm confident Q4 will show continuing confidence. ”
With 2.3m sq ft of office space in the UK currently under construction, Birmingham remains a strong representation of this and an area of growth, ranking third for percentage of space let whilst under construction at 15 per cent, behind Manchester (26 per cent) and Glasgow (23 per cent).
The report also boasts a strong out-of-town market for the city, headlined by Mitie taking 32,848 sq ft at T2 Trinity Park and flexible workspace provider Chadwick Business Centres taking 14,952 sq ft at Blenheim Court, Solihull.
There were also three 5,000 sq ft to 10,000 sq ft deals at Birmingham Business Park to Galliford Try, Imtech Environ and Morrison Energy.
To read the full research update on Big Nine office markets (Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle) click here.