Forum's new map promotes Birminghams impressive office stock
Mar 5 2009 by Alun Thorne, Birmingham Post
A new map of Birmingham’s central office market is set to get an airing at next week’s MIPIM conference.
The newly updated map follows the successful launch of the first edition last year by the Birmingham Office Market Forum (BOMF) made up of leading office agents in the city.
The map was officially launched yesterday at an event that saw members of BOMF including Birmingham City Council provide insights and analysis of the past, present and future growth of the city centre office market.
The event marked the end of CB Richard Ellis’ Martin Guest’s period as BOMF chairman who believes the creation of the new map demonstrates the city agents’ continued commitment to the marketing of central Birmingham.
He said: “The initiative first came together in 2007 to provide a unified voice on the office market within the city. The city has changed almost beyond recognition in recent years so we set out to redefine the office market boundary to express the huge breadth of occupier choice that exists in Birmingham.
“Since it launched last year, the enterprise has reaped large benefits for the city, with the previous map now widely used as a definitive reference document for those looking to invest in the city, and by office agents themselves. The new map provides an updated look at the position of the city’s office market and the schemes that are under way and currently on offer.”
Much like the last map, the aim of the latest map is not only to highlight the diversity of stock available in the city, but also to ensure that potential investors are getting the same consistent and positive message.
Newly appointed chairman of BOMF and Partner at Drivers Jonas, Philippa Pickavance, added: “We saw record take-up figures last year which was at odds with the general economy, but this can be explained by three lettings accounting for 44 per cent, which importantly included investment from Deutsche Bank taking just under 70,000 sq ft.
“However, with the downturn in the economy clearly affecting rental levels and levels of enquiries in the market, as a group BOMF felt it more important than ever to come together and produce the updated map to not only show that the city’s office market has a wealth of high specification stock on offer, but where there are deals to be done.”
As a result of its success and innovation the initiative is encouraging other large cities such as Manchester to pull together and look to create their own forums. BOMF’s work has also been recognised with a nomination for an innovation award in the regional Property Week Awards 2009.
Ms Pickavance said: “The initiative is a case of competitors working together, along with Birmingham City Council’s Locate in Birmingham, to promote the city.”
New figures unveiled at the launch report that office take-up in 2008 was 959,317 sq ft, a significant increase on the 662,207 sq ft seen in 2007. The take-up in 2008 was boosted by two major deals at Snow Hill, most notably the pre-let of 246,027 sq ft to Wragge & Co, which was the largest single office lease and pre-let in the UK last year.
Notable office completions in 2008 included 300,000 sq ft at Colmore Plaza and 124,000 sq ft at 45 Church Street. There are seven schemes currently under construction, with most set to complete later this year including 1 Snow Hill, Langley Point and Eleven Brindleyplace. The Cube is on track for completion in spring 2010 and 2 Snow Hill is set to complete in mid 2011.
Clive Dutton, Director of Planning and Regeneration at Birmingham City Council, said: “The continued commitment from the city’s office agents demonstrates a productive private and public sector partnership.
“Locate in Birmingham has committed to taking the newly launched Central Birmingham Office Market map to MIPIM this year, as we believe it’s a fantastic tool to market the city centre, conveying a clear and consistent message to inward investors.
“The map also allows us to demonstrate the high level of activity that is taking place in the city, as well as quality of the business tenants that the accommodation is attracting.”
The companies involved in the Birmingham Office Market Forum are Atisreal, CB Richard Ellis, Colliers CRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Drivers Jonas, DTZ, GBR, GVA Grimley, Jones Lang LaSalle, King Sturge, Knight Frank, KWB, Lambert Smith Hampton, Savills, and Vail Williams in conjunction with Birmingham City Council and CoStar Group.
