Scale, skills and accessibility are three key factors driving more businesses back to Birmingham city centre offices – one of the many insights presented at a free business breakfast event hosted by CBRE Investment Management at 10 Brindleyplace.
The panel debate, which was held in partnership with West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), British Council for Offices (BCO) and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), discussed the topic ‘The Great Office Migration: what’s behind the focus on Birmingham city centre?’.
Over 100 agents, property professionals and business leaders gathered at CBRE IM’s Grade A office development, 10 Brindleyplace in Birmingham, to hear the panel of experts discuss one of the UK’s most significant office market trends – the recent surge in businesses returning to city centre office space.
The panel comprised:
- Chris Lawes, Strategic Lead – Tech & Services, West Midlands Growth Company
- Theo Holmes, Senior Director, Advisory & Transaction Services, CBRE
- Alison Kilby, Associate Director, Arup
- Ranjit Dhindsa, Birmingham Office Leader, Fieldfisher
- Lucy Thompson, Head of Property and Workspace, Standard Life
“I think scale, skills and accessibility are all key markers for a business looking to come into Birmingham city centre,” said Chris Lawes.
“In terms of scale, we’re the largest economy outside London. We’ve got skills – even just within professional financial services, there’s a third of a million people that work within the West Midlands – and then in terms of the accessibility, you’ve got that ability to get both to the capital, to Europe, but also worldwide trips to India, Dubai – all these different places you can all get to 10 minutes away on the train from Birmingham International.
“The connectivity and that ability for people to get to where the business is is equally important.
“[In terms of] skills pool, we’ve got 10 major universities within the region – over 200,000 graduates each year. Three of the business schools have triple crown accreditation, which basically means they’re in the top 1% globally.”
Ranjit Dhindsa, Birmingham Office Leader, Fieldfisher, added: “Yes, talent is important, absolutely, but we’re following our clients. What we noticed was a lot of other professional services companies were being drawn here and we got FOMO (fear of missing out). We wanted to be in the cluster, we wanted to be part of the network.”
Alison Kilby, Associate Director, Arup, oversaw the organisation’s Midlands hub move in December 2023 from Solihull to newly built offices at One Centenary Way, in Paradise Birmingham.
She told the breakfast event: “The only place that we could achieve our aspirations in terms of sustainability, the amenities and the offer that we wanted to provide our staff was in Grade A accommodation in the city centre. There just isn’t that equivalent outside of that. So that was what drove our move and we’ve been in two years and we’ve not looked back.”
Lucy Thompson, Head of Property and Workspace, Standard Life, said: “We’ve got opportunities to continue to grow in Birmingham and how that interplays with our current core locations. A really strong selling point is we’ve got our head office in London and equally a significant office in Edinburgh and very much part of our heritage; Birmingham allows us to tap into that, develop our talent pathway, and have a fantastic office environment in what I feel is a ‘city centre business park’ environment.”
Theo Holmes from CBRE commented: “What a great event – the panellists were superb, and they all brought unique perspectives to the discussion. For me the key takeaway is that we must all rally together to sing the virtues of our great city.
“For any organisations looking to make the move to the city centre, the message is ‘embrace the change’ and, like many of the panel have done, reap the benefits of securing talent, collaboration opportunities, revenue growth and the myriad of wellbeing advantages that come with a base in the centre of Birmingham.”