Flex office sector looks bright in Birmingham

The flexible office market in Birmingham has gone from strength to strength over recent years providing a complementary solution to the city’s well established and successful conventional office market. As the sector continues to show resilience, we speak to Workthere broker James Wilcox and Savills office agency director Ben Thacker about what is next for flex in Birmingham.

What’s new in the Birmingham flex market?

James Wilcox (JW) - The Birmingham market has seen an influx of new operators, from both London and the UK, underlining Birmingham’s strength in attracting a variety of exciting new types of operators and space. In the last two years we have seen X+Why open two sites, alongside other new operators to the market including Cubo, The Boutique Workplace and Spacemade. They all join an already established market of larger operators such as Orega, Landmark, Regus and WeWork.

Ben Thacker (BT) - X+why first opened The Foundry at 6 Brindleyplace in Q2 2022, where they operate 40,000 sq.ft of flexible office space offering experience driven, sustainable workspace. Not long after they signed a management agreement for 31,500 sq ft at Birmingham’s 103 Colmore Row, which opened in October 2022 and is now close to being full. Cubo then signed for a 12.5 year lease at Two Chamberlain Square, Paradise for 24,000 sq ft of space. Founded in 2020, Cubo previously had four sites prior to Birmingham, including Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds. The Boutique Workplace Company opened its first offer in Birmingham Q4 2021 comprising circa 423 workstations across 26,000 sq.ft at 102 Colmore Row. Finally, Spacemade will open at 10 Brindleyplace in 2023 where they will offer 27,000 sq ft of flexible workspace in a building focussed on sustainability and occupier wellness including a climbing wall amongst other innovative features.

Why are we seeing such investment from operators?

BT - The evolution of Birmingham’s flex office market has predominantly been driven by the city recognising the need to have a strong variety of flexible workplace choices for occupiers with quality, wellbeing and sustainability topping the agenda. As host to the UK’s second largest university, Birmingham has a strong talent flow that continues to boost the city’s workforce and appeal on a national and global level. As a result, it has attracted a number of high profile occupiers as well as a strong pipeline of start-ups and SME’s, which have all helped to boost the flexible office market. Whilst Colmore Row and Brindleyplace currently define the main flex office hubs and the investment into these two areas shows a real confidence in the market, we expect the sector will gain further traction in other areas of the city as the market continues to expand.

JW - Birmingham’s connectivity is another key highlight for occupiers with direct links to London and other major UK cites. Whilst HS2 is still some way off, Birmingham’s Curzon Street Station will also be at the heart of the link from London to the West Midlands.

In terms of comparable pricing to other UK cities, as the second largest flex market outside of London and after Manchester, Birmingham commands a robust average price per desk of between £420 to £450, which sits against Manchester at £400 to £500, Bristol at £350 to £450 and London at £750 to £950 per desk per month.

It is clear that Birmingham’s flexible office market is on an upward trajectory and I can only really see the market evolving and growing in the future as a result of its strong and continuous talent and increasing popularity as a city in the UK.