'Major bank' searching for Birmingham space
Inward investment organisation Business Birmingham is in talks with a major international bank to find an 80,000 sq ft location in the city, Insider can reveal. According to Charles Toogood, director at the Birmingham office of property consultancy GVA, the bank wants to move into the city by the beginning of 2013.
Toogood said that rumours have been circulating as to the identity of the bank, with names including Santander, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas having been associated with the move.
The bank wants to complete the move at the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013, he said.
Business Birmingham told Insider that it was too early in the proceedings to comment on the deal due to client confidentiality.
This deal, combined with accountancy firm Grant Thornton’s expected move to Colmore Plaza later this year, will mean that Birmingham will have an office take-up of around 600,000 sq ft by the end of the year – something which Toogood called a "return to the norm".
"What we’re seeing is the start of a rental growth," he said. "But this is only the beginning of the process. If people find the right space for their businesses then they will pay. There’s now a willingness for firms to sign ten-year leases rather than the five-year ones we’ve been experiencing for the last couple of years."
Enquiries for office space "remain volatile", said Toogood. However, he pointed to the fact that there are a number of lease events coming up which would stimulate the Birmingham office market.
"We’re looking to the 25-year leases that were signed in the mid-80s and the 15-year leases signed in the mid-90s. PwC has a lease event coming up in mid-2014, and there is a long list of companies in the same boat, such as L&G and Royal and Sun Alliance," he said.
Toogood said this will mean that Birmingham’s over-supply of Grade A space will begin to be absorbed.
Despite fears that Birmingham would suffer from a lack of supply in the next three years, Toogood said he was optimistic about the city's property market.
"We’ve got more opportunities to be optimistic than we did two years ago," he said. "There’s much more out there on the cards at the moment."
