Things are rapidly moving forward for the commercial property industry in Birmingham.
Four building firms have been taken on to provide construction for the West Midlands Regional Framework. The £3bn project is set to run for four years with the potential of being extended to eight.
The quartet comprises Mansell, Morgan Sindall, Thomas Vale and Wilmott Dixon.
Mansell, a Balfour Beatty company, provides a range of commercial property services across industrial, retail, offices and interiors. Morgan Sindall is a UK construction and regeneration group, operating in five divisions: construction and infrastructure, affordable housing, fit out, urban regeneration, and investments. Thomas Vale is the largest privately owned construction company in the Midlands. Wilmott Dixon completes the fab four, providing development for a range of markets, creating sustainable commercial property is a major part of the construction company’s focus.
Together they will be working on projects expected to dovetail with Birmingham’s development plan, entitled the Big City Plan.
This is a twenty-year programme, initiated in 2008. It is designed to rejuvenate Birmingham by injecting an unprecedented £10bn of regeneration into the area, spanning residential and commercial property, civic buildings, transport and more. It has been labelled ‘the most ambitious and far-reaching development ever undertaken in the UK’.
The city centre, reportedly the source of a third of Birmingham’s economic output, is highlighted as ‘one of the key areas’ where Birmingham City Council will focus much of the work. ‘Transformation’, in the form of a 100,000 population increase, a 25 per cent growth in the ‘central core’ of the city centre, ‘strengthening’ of ‘its authentic character’ and diversification of ‘its economic base’ is foreseen.
1.5m sq m of new developments will be spread across five areas:
Westside will see the commercial property development of ‘significant new mixed-use office led workspace. The Snow Hill district will see an expansion in its supply of offices. Eastside will host ‘opportunities for mixed-use development, including office, residential, learning and leisure space’. Southern Gateway appears set for an influx of retail units, which will lead through to residential neighbourhoods. Finally, the area around New Street Station will provide ‘opportunities for selective redevelopment for [a] further variety of uses’.
The council wants to see different types of commercial property in each area, built to satisfy specific sectors. The area around Five Ways will develop ‘as a focus of major office activity’. Eastside will grow as ‘a technology and knowledge based area focused at Birmingham Science Park Aston, but at lower densities and more modest rents than the city core, with the potential to also capture civil service relocations and back office shared services’.
The Jewellery Quarter and Digbeth will ‘provide a range of accommodation for professional practices and start-ups’. Manufacturing and new growth sectors will also be served by these areas, alongside the Gunsmiths Quarter and Southside.
Singled out for special attention is Birmingham’s retail sector, reportedly attracting over £2bn of annual expenditure. Commercial property will be constructed between St Philip’s Cathedral and New Street, areas set to become ‘independent high-value retail locations’. This will be achieved with ‘continued support and investment in the retail core bounded by the Bullring, Mailbox, Pavilions, Pallasades, New Street and Corporation Street’. These form a group labelled ‘prime shopping locations’.
Outside of the city centre there is commercial property movement expected in Sutton Coldfield and Selly Oak.
To cope with the expected influx of people and businesses, the transport system will be overhauled. There will be an extension to the Metro, a redeveloped New Street Station, due to open in 2015, and a stated intention to ‘transform bus travel’. Longer-term, high speed rail and a runway extension at Birmingham International Airport are also envisaged.
Birmingham will also be adding high-rise commercial property to its skyline in the form of the proposed 147m V Building. Previously scheduled for completion in 2009, work is now hoped to begin by 2015 on the £150m tower. This will join the 122m Beetham Tower, currently the second tallest tower in Birmingham, after the 152m British Telecom Tower.
If the heights seem small compared to some of London’s commercial property, such as One Canada Square (235m), Heron Tower (230m) or 8 Canada Square (200m), this is because Birmingham is built on a sandstone ridge and is 100m above sea level. Consequently the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) warns against building any commercial property above 40 storeys.
Referencing ‘Government guidance stipulating higher densities’, leading to a revival in market interest in ‘the development of tall buildings’, Birmingham City Council has now produced ‘High Places’, a document with guidelines on future tall building development.
This states: ‘Tall buildings would have a significant role to play in sustaining and enhancing a Birmingham renaissance, therefore the Council will welcome and encourage well-placed high quality tall buildings that would be an asset to the city and would help to create a distinctive city centre skyline.’
Does this mean future commercial property may take to the sky? A marker appears to have been set by the V Building, formerly known as Arena Central Tower, which will measure up at 51 storeys.
It will form part of Arena Central, a 31,000 sq m scheme. This will comprise a range of commercial property, from shops and offices to leisure and entertainment facilities.
With all this work going on, how will sustainability requirements be met? Commercial property developers have been told they need to maintain ‘Exemplar standards of sustainable design and construction, to BREEAM excellence and above’. Reminders are also issued for ‘the need for building conversion and re-use, utilising existing building stock’.
Combined heat and power (CHP) systems, where energy emitted by industrial buildings is recycled for use in residential and commercial property, will be used. According to the Big City Plan, this ‘has huge potential to further utilise the mass of buildings and activity to produce extensive quantities of usable heat and power in a highly efficient process, offering significant benefits to users’.
Huge potential seems to be the key phrase for commercial property in Birmingham. Watch this space!
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