Birmingham Business Park near Solihull, West Midlands, is enjoying its lowest vacancy rate in a decade thanks to a surge of regional investment and development, and high demand for office space both from large firms and small businesses.
A number of factors including high levels of inward investment and regional development have triggered a surge of occupancy at Birmingham Business Park, a 148-acre site near Solihull, which is now experiencing its best occupancy rate for many years.
“Birmingham Business Park now has the lowest vacancy rate in a decade,” commented Liz Allister, Park Development Manager at Birmingham Business Park. “The Park’s positive environment, combined with its excellent location and high quality amenities, has drawn many new occupiers including Rolls Royce, who moved in last year, among others.”
UBCUK, a nationwide supplier of serviced office space, relocated its Head Office to the Park at 1310 Solihull Parkway in January 2016. The company launched a new serviced office facility for small businesses at the same location.
Jane Erasmus, Sales & Marketing Director at UBCUK, says that the new business centre has outperformed expectations within the past 12 months by receiving extraordinary levels of interest from small and medium-sized businesses.
“Our serviced offices at Birmingham Business Park are now home to 24 businesses of varying sizes, ranging from small firms to corporate project teams,” Jane commented. “We launched the business centre in January 2016 following an extensive refurbishment of the building, and we’re absolutely delighted with the progress we’ve made in such a short time.
“Demand for flexible workspace in Birmingham Business Park is coming from both small and large firms who recognise the importance of workplace flexibility in a fully serviced, professional environment in an extremely well-connected central location.”
Its success is also largely attributed to vast improvement in regional infrastructure, combined with soaring costs of office space in Central London and Birmingham’s increasing popularity as a business and lifestyle location.
New data released by StartUp Britain in January 2017, run by the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE), found that Birmingham was once again the most entrepreneurial city outside London. 17,473 new businesses were registered in Birmingham during 2016, an increase of 25% on the previous year.
Birmingham has now retained its position as the number one location for start-ups outside of London for four consecutive years.
Furthermore Deloitte’s Birmingham Crane Survey 2017 stated that development in the city is now matching the highest level seen in their survey history, with confidence in Birmingham having “led to a massive increase in residential development”.
Deloitte’s key findings show that 1.45million sq ft of office space is currently under construction, a 50% increase on the previous year, and 7 new office starts totalling 778,612 sq ft – the highest number in Deloitte’s survey history.
There is also a surge in residential development with more than 2,300 units being delivered over the next three years.
The report said developer confidence has been reinforced by growth in financial services, increasing activity stimulated by HS2 and the lack of supply available for immediate occupation.
These factors, including Birmingham Business Park’s proximity to Birmingham International Airport and the M42/M6 interchange, are directly contributing to increased demand for workspace at the Park.
Other notable drivers include improvements in infrastructure, the forthcoming development of HS2, and significant investment on the site in terms of business and lifestyle amenities.
On Wednesday 15th February 2017, UBC is holding an ‘Open House’ at 1310 Solihull Parkway from 11am until 2pm, during which guests are invited to tour the premises and network with other visitors and clients.