University NHS trust takes 72,500 sq ft of office space in Edgbaston
EDGBASTON’S credentials as a location for the medical sector have been enhanced by the news that the NHS is taking 72,500 sq ft of office space there.
The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has taken the space as part of the relocation of some 300 staff from its Selly Oak Hospital site.
It has taken 22,500 sq ft of refurbished office accommodation at Yardley Court on Frederick Road and 50,000 sq ft at the adjacent Regent Court on George Road.
The relocation of the staff is scheduled to be completed by the end of Q1 2015.
Cliff Ewan, commercial director at UHB, said: “We needed to remain close to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and wanted our staff to be able to have access to as many bus and train routes as possible. Therefore these buildings are absolutely ideal for us.”
Edgbaston has been promoting itself as the Edgbaston Medical Quarter in an attempt to build on the number of medical institutions and medtech and biotech firms that are based there.
That offering has been enhanced in recent years by the emergence of the QE ‘super hospital’ and by plans for a new dental hospital and school of dentistry and a medical and life science hub employing 1,000 people on the site of the old BBC Pebble Mill studios.
Birmingham-based property consultancy GVA secured the space for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
George Jennings, associate at GVA, said: “It was clear from our initial conversations that the NHS was looking for a long-term solution with a requirement for modern office space in an easily-accessible location, so purchasing something in Edgbaston was by far the most effective solution.”
GBR Phoenix Beard represented the landlord of Regent Court.
