Birmingham’s city office core has seen the best take-up ever during Q2 this year, with figures totalling more than 500,000 sq ft, buoyed by the recent letting to HSBC in the city.
According to the latest figures from the Birmingham Office Market Forum, 521,136 sq ft was let across 40 deals during Q2 – reflecting a colossal 321% leap from the Q1 2015 figure of 123,760 sq ft.
The huge increase was due to HSBC signing the largest deal in the city for years at the Arena Central development in the city. HSBC has taken the whole of the 210,000 sq ft Two Arena Central building for its new UK retail banking business HQ, which forms a key part of the first phase of development at the £400m Arena Central project. Bilfinger GVA and CBRE are letting agents on the scheme.
Speaking on behalf of BOMF, Jonathan Carmalt of JLL, said: “The outcome of 521,136 sq ft in 40 deals represents the best-ever quarter, certainly since the agents have collectively collated the figures [since 2007].”
When added to the 30 deals totalling 123,760 sq ft in Q1, take-up for the first half of 2015 totals 644,896 ft² across 70 deals.
