In Conversation With…. Chris Oglesby

DEVELOPER Bruntwood’s foray into the new build commercial property market may have just lasted just three years but this doesn’t mean the firm is scaling back its ambitions.

The company is set to use the proceeds to buy the 209,000 sq ft Centre City office block in Hill Street, Birmingham and embark on one of its trademark refurbishments to create what chief executive Chris Oglesby (left) describes as “luxury refurbished space”.

“The prime sector has been seeing low yields throughout the recession and the gap between that and the likes of a Centre City have been growing,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity for us to take the money we’ve made out of a prime asset and recycle that capital,” he said.

“Bruntwood has grown by taking on problem buildings and then restoring them. A few years ago, it seemed like there weren’t any problem buildings but we’ve got them back again now.”

Oglesby is much more confident on the long-term prospects for key city-regions based around Birmingham, Leeds and Bruntwood’s home city of Manchester than the forecasts made by many consultancies.

Although the market has been tough for many parts of the property sector, he argues that it hasn’t led to a great decline in employee numbers. As such, there is still competition for skilled staff and Oglesby suggests that businesses “have got to position themselves where they can match the talent pool”.

Bruntwood’s focus is on taking advantage of the increasing gap in valuations between prime and secondary properties by picking up and restoring unloved buildings.

In Birmingham, for instance, he said that Centre City “would be a very significant acquisition for us”.

The success of the nearby McLaren building (left) which was bought two years ago and is now almost full after a refurbishment, convinced Bruntwood of the opportunities in the Birmingham city centre market.

Oglesby said Birmingham has a large stock of buildings which are ripe for refurbishment.

“The market doesn’t really have that luxury refurbished product,” he said.

Oglesby argues that Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds are likely to benefit from ‘northshoring’ by law firms as competition increases in the sector, and that there will be a general “pull from London” by entrepreneurial businesses as the City attracts more multinationals, making rents even more expensive.

“A recession is great for that – for making people think about their costs and for finding better ways of doing things,” he said.