Birmingham Commercial Property Looking Forward

At the moment the major question in Birmingham is how much of its future, and ambitious, regeneration plan it can start in the near future. There has been a lot achieved so far and few people would not wish to see the improvement process continue. But there is a squeeze on government spending and a cautious commercial property industry. Of immediate interest will be Irish developer Ballymore’s quest for a partner for the second phase of the 55,740 sq.metres (600,000 sq.ft.) Snowhill scheme, which is already partially completed but will need an investment of another £110 million.

The interesting point is that the block (just over half the total scheme) is 60% pre let to the law firm Wragg & Co.Adding spice to the situation is that One Snowhill has been sold to the German fund Commerz for £126 million, a yield of 6.2%. It would appear to be an ideal moment to complete the block (probably by 2012) because the lack of speculative building means that a shortage of prime space will occur. Savills is now marketing Two Snowhill. Adding to the uncertainty is that the original plan for the £6 billion regeneration of the Eastside has been put on hold because the plan for a high speed rail link to London is to be routed through the area.

There is another level of uncertainty because the new government’s squeeze on spending might hit the rail proposal. Eastside is part of a grand plan (Big City Plan) costing £17 billion to improve Birmingham, details of which are due to be published in September. One action taken recently was to go back to the drawing board for architect Glenn Howells’ master plan for the 420 acre regeneration. Head of Birmingham Regeneration Waheed Nazir isclear that “private sector involvement is the bedrock of the delivery of the Big City Plan (BCP). We need far more private/public sector relationships to jointly deliver the plan.”

The Midlands Commercial Property Register

The Midlands Commercial Property Register is a leading UK business property publication from Martin Austen Publishing. The aim of the publication is to offer a simple and effective means of finding Offices Space, Serviced Offices and Commercial Property in the Midlands . You can also find the latest commercial property news for the Midlands.