Birmingham office market sees record take-up in third quarter

In the third quarter of 2024, the central Birmingham office market saw a total take-up of 348,690 sq ft across 23 deals.

When combined with the first half of the year, which recorded 368,794 sq ft from 48 deals, the year-to-date total now stands at 717,484 sq ft from 71 deals.

Aston University secured the largest space uptake in Birmingham, by acquiring Birmingham City Council’s flagship site, 10 Woodcock Street, with the assistance of Cushman and Wakefield.

Originally opened by Birmingham City Council in 2011, 10 Woodcock Street was the second-largest purpose-built office building in the city, spanning more than 86,000 sq ft. The building served as the city council’s flagship site, housing over 3,000 staff.

In second place, GBS acquired 68,192 sq ft at 1 Brindleyplace, with Macquarie as the landlord and CBRE as the letting agent.

This transaction marked the largest traditional office lease in Brindleyplace in more than a decade and is GBS’s third campus in Birmingham, joining locations at Fazeley Studios in Digbeth and Norfolk House on Smallbrook Queensway.

Trowers & Hamlins took the third largest space, leasing 16,436 sq ft on the third floor of 1 Snow Hill. The deal was brokered by CBRE/KF, with Union serving as the landlord.

This year’s figures mark the highest take-up since 2015 when HSBC established its UK headquarters in Birmingham.

As a result, the total take-up for 2024 has already surpassed both the five-year and ten-year averages.

The take-up figures from previous years as of Q3 were 462,719 sq ft in 2023 from 72 deals, 482,352 sq ft in 2022 from 83 deals, 496,237 sq ft in 2021 from 63 deals, 480,412 sq ft in 2020 from 37 deals, and 675,172 sq ft in 2019 from 90 deals.