Office take-up exceeds 1m sq ft in record year
TAKE up in Birmingham’s office market hit record levels last year, according to new research.
Deals surpassed the one million sq ft barrier for the year with office take up in the final quarter of 2017 in central Birmingham totalling 354,530 sq ft across 49 deals.
When added to the 81 deals totalling 650,542 sq ft recorded in the first three quarters of the year, the 2017 year-end total take up amounts to 1,005,072 sq ft across 130 deals.
This compares with 692,729 sq ft across 139 deals for 2016 and 970,458 sq ft across 132 deals for 2015.
The 2017 outcome beats the previous high seen in 2015, according to the Birmingham Office Market Forum which compiles data on the city’s commercial property market.
It said office take up was boosted by the emergence of HS2-related demand together with key larger transactions in the professional ser- vices and the serviced office sectors, such as PwC committing to an additional 58,631 at One Chamberlain Square.
In other deals, Regus took 76,000 sq ft at The Crossway, in Great Charles Street, and insurance bro- kerage Willis Towers Watson agreed a deal for 11,645 sq ft in The Colmore Building.
The forum said: “Breaking one million sq ft office take up for the first time is extremely positive for Birmingham during the current peri- od of unprecedented development activity and further regeneration, visible across the forum area.
“It is also particularly encouraging, bearing in mind the slow first half of the year following on from the dip seen in the previous year’s total.”