City centre zone would be 'catalyst for growth', says LSH
Commercial property consultant Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has described the idea of an enterprise zone in Birmingham city centre as a potential "shot in the arm" for the region. LSH said the move could aid the shortage of city centre office space and encourage investment from London into Birmingham.
The company said the proposal from the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP could be the catalyst stalled projects need to restart.
The LEP revealed its intention to submit plans for the Birmingham city centre to become an enterprise zone last week.
Stephen Hemming, LSH's director of planning, development and regeneration, said: "This is a good decision for the city and will give a boost to the Big City Plan. It makes Birmingham a commercially attractive place to locate and is likely to bring in fresh investment, as well as kick-starting projects which have stalled because of the economic climate."
Chancellor George Osborne announced his plans to revive the 1980's idea of enterprise zones in his Budget speech last month. He said that 21 of the zones would be created in England, whereby companies could enjoy tax breaks and reduced planning restrictions.
Jon Hinton of LSH’s office team said the zone could also help to tackle the issue of office space shortage in the city centre in the medium term.
He added: "There is very little being built in the city in terms of Grade A office space at the moment, and at the current rate of take-up in three to four years time there will be next to nothing available. Although funding for development remains tight, enterprise zone status could give developers the encouragement needed to push ahead with their plans, particularly on the city’s more high profile sites.
"In addition, within the life of the enterprise zone, HS2 will probably be much closer to reality so we could also see some investment moving from London to Birmingham."
