Fringe Vies With Core As Birmingham Office Market Changes Shape

Birmingham could be edging toward a half-and-half office market in which the central core and the fringes each account for 50% of the take-up.

The latest data on Birmingham office take-up shows second-quarter volumes of 178K SF, of which 95K SF is in the central core. The balance is the city fringe, Jewellery Quarter or Edgbaston.

Data from the Birmingham Office Agents Forum showed a steady rise in the volume of out-of-core deals.

The equivalent figures for Q1 were 111K SF in the core and 49K SF outside of it, if a deal in Aston, just outside the central zone, was included.

In Q4 2022, deals recorded in the core totalled 154K SF, whilst 76K SF was transacted out of core.

The first half of 2023 showed total take-up of 331K SF across 54 deals, a stronger performance than H1 2022, which accumulated deals amounting to 117K SF. The first half of this year is still some way behind 2020, which scored 400K SF, or 2019's 515K SF.

The largest single deal was in floorspace earmarked by WeWork before the corporate trauma that saw it reduce its Birmingham plans to a single hub.

QAHE, an education provider, took 45K SF at the 80K SF Louisa Ryland House, Newhall Street, Birmingham. The firm signed a 15-year lease. CBRE and JLL advised landlord Euro Property Investments on the letting. Daniel Watney advised QAHE Ltd.

“This represents a reasonable first half of the year, with encouragement taken from the total number of deals completed, which represents the most seen in a H1 period since before the pandemic," Forum officer Jonathan Carmalt said in a statement. "The occupier mix is also varied with strong representation from the flex/serviced and education sectors.”