Railtrack is targeting the 6,373 sq m (68,600 sq ft) No 1 Brindleyplace for its new administrative headquarters in Birmingham. The property was formerly occupied by troubled telecommunications giant Ionica which is now in administration with debts of around £300m.
A spokesman for Railtrack confirmed to EGi that the group had a requirement in central Birmingham for up to 4,645 sq m (50,000 sq ft) of offices and that No 1 Brindleyplace was one of the options under consideration. However, it is understood that Ionica’s administrators, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Ernst & Young, could be looking for a premium in order to assign the lease of the property. It is less than two years since the telecommunications company signed a new lease on the building at around £199 per sq m (£18.50 per sq ft) mark.
Railtrack’s Midlands headquarters is at the mixed-use Stanier House on Holiday Street. The lease runs out next year and, according to its spokesman, the group wants to relocate into a single-occupation HQ within 1.5 miles of Birmingham city centre.
Although it would have more space than it needs at No 1 and would have to sublet at least one floor, alternative choices of available good quality accommodation over 2,787 sq m (30,000 sq ft) in Birmingham city centre are restricted. Only Richardson Barberry’s 5,574 sq m (60,000 sq ft) Imperial House is available to let in the city centre and already solicitor Irwin Mitchell is thought to have put up to 3,716 sq m (40,000 sq ft) under offer.
If so, the central Birmingham market will be starved of prime space until two new buildings at Brindleyplace are completed in the middle of next year.
CB Hillier Parker is advising Railtrack.
EGi News 18/11/98
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