Birmingham city council is set to take up to 7,430 sq m (80,000 sq ft) in Hampton Trust’s Alpha Tower if councillors approve the sale of its current home at Baskerville House.
Tony Liddiard, head of property management and disposals at Birmingham council, was unavailable for comment. But it is believed that, in a closed meeting this week, members were presented with details of the sale to a hotel operator of the 8,360 sq m (90,000 sq ft) Baskerville House on Broad Street. Options to relocate the council’s offices if the sale proceeds were also to have been discussed.
Hampton Trust’s Alpha Tower, also on Broad Street, is the tallest tower in Birmingham. It is tipped to be top of the list for the council’s accommodation needs. Partly because it is affordable – available at £129.17 per sq m (£12 per sq ft) which is nearly half of what is being achieved at developments such as Argent’s Brindleyplace – and because it can handle a requirement of over 7,430 sq m (80,000 sq ft). It offers floorplates of around 650 sq m (7,000 sq ft) and is the subject of a rolling refurbishment programme.
Another factor is that Alpha Tower is included in Hampton Trust’s 213,670 sq m (2.3m sq ft) Arena Central development – a £300m mixed-use scheme – on a 5.7ha (14 acre) site off Broad Street.
Ironically, as a result of Hampton’s proposals, the council has another unfulfilled requirement – Birmingham Registry Office is in the middle of the Arena Central site. The council is looking for up to 2,787 sq m (30,000 sq ft) of offices.
Jones Lang Wootton is selling Baskerville House. Richard Ellis is sole letting agent on Alpha Tower.
