Ingenuity secures largest letting
Flexible office provider, Orega, took the largest amount of space in the Solihull office market this quarter, with a letting of over 30,000 sq ft at Ingenuity House. The company signed a Partnership Agreement with the building’s owners, Abrdn, to create a high spec flexible workspace of 550 workstations, over the ground and first floors of Ingenuity House, which will open in January 2024.
The new workspace is designed to be a modern, flexible base for the area’s professional and financial businesses, and will offer:
- A huge design-led atrium space that focuses on hospitality
- A wide choice of different working zones
- Large meeting room suite
- On-site shower and changing facilities
- Unlimited barista-quality coffee
- Secure bike parking
- Car parking and EV charging points
With this in mind, it’s not too surprising that Orega has also secured a major financial services business at the property, which will take 150 desks on the 1st floor on bespoke, flexible terms.
Ben Hutchen, Real Estate Director at Orega, commented: “Ingenuity House is a unique building that will attract a lot of interest from businesses who are increasingly looking for a flexible way to occupy property but also require high quality state-of-the-art space. The popularity of flex space has been growing in Birmingham.”
According to published market research, Birmingham now has 650,000 sq ft of flexible office space, an increase of 37% on 2022 with an average occupancy rate of 85%.
Ingenuity House was built by – and for – Interserve as a flagship example of what an office building could be, opening in 2018. It features an innovative, forward-thinking design built around sustainability and wellbeing, with an office specification well above that of any new buildings being constructed in the wider region.
The layout of the 113,654 sq ft building – and its impressive specification – had seemingly made it a prospect primarily for a single, major occupier with a significant budget. Following the agreement with Orega, the letting strategy will be to find occupiers for the remaining floors. KWB is aware of further interest at the property, regarded as one of the most sustainable in the country. With such a strong proposition for occupiers looking to enhance their ESG, it will be interesting to see who takes space at the property in the future.