Birmingham office development at highest level for 13 years

THE latest Deloitte Birmingham Crane Survey shows office construction at the highest level for 13 years.

The report, first launched by the Deloitte Real Estate team in the Midlands in 2000, shows 969,000 sq ft of office space under construction, with hotel construction three times higher than the ten year average.

In addition, student accommodation development in the city centre has returned after two years of inactivity.

Edwin Bray, lead partner of Deloitte Real Estate in the Midlands, said: “This is an incredibly positive report in many ways, and reflects the sentiment towards Birmingham and the wider Midlands region that we are seeing across our firm and client-base, not just here in the UK, but globally.

“The Midlands ‘engine’ is roaring loud and clear, and the year-on-year improvements and investments, such as the £600m refurbishment of New Street Station, the Grand Central Shopping Centre and the new Midlands Metro, just continue to strengthen the city’s offer.”

The areas that have seen a decrease in the latest Deloitte report are construction of new education facilities (one recorded), residential completions (none recorded) and the overall number of new schemes (nine) which fell below the average (11).

There are however a number of schemes in the residential sector that are nearing construction start (the Deloitte Crane Survey only counts projects in construction, not demolition) and at the time of the report’s publication Birmingham City Council has sighted 12 development sites across the city centre. which have been scoped for residential development.