Aviva Investors tells breakfast club why Birmingham is the place to invest in

DLA Piper recently hosted the latest Breakfast Club Briefing for the real estate market with Aviva Investors talking about why it has identified Birmingham as a great city for investment.

Chris Urwin, head of research, Barry Hill, head of asset management, and Simon Green, a senior asset manager in its retail team, explained Aviva Investors’ new real estate investment strategy for focused and disciplined investment in specific locations to help develop relationships and embed itself in a small number of key markets.

This will enable it to enhance its expertise, benefit from agglomeration effects by clustering its investments, and ultimately drive value for its clients.

Aviva Investors has identified Birmingham as a robust location for investment, with a particular focus on office and retail property.

According to its research team, this is because Birmingham has a large urban population, a dense concentration of highly skilled workers, excellent connectivity and infrastructure improvements, as well as having a strong fashion offering and resilience to online shopping.

They see the city as being well-positioned to exploit the change in the role of cities as economic drivers.

Stephen Malley, UK head of construction, said: “We were delighted to host the briefing with Aviva Investors and understand more about why it has identified Birmingham as a strong investment proposition. Birmingham already has thriving office and retail markets, with more opportunity ahead as a result of major infrastructure projects such as HS2.”