Office space Solihull and M42 corridor – quarter 3 2014 take-up

With Q3, July to September, results in for 2014, it appears that the M42 and Solihull office market is enjoying its most active year in nearly a decade!

The prosperity within the out-of-town office market has continued through Q3 of 2014, with 124,489 sq ft of offices in Solihull and the M42 corridor being transacted this quarter. With the long term annual average take-up being 220,000 sq ft, this has been far surpassed already with 319,941 sq ft transacted for the year to date.

This quarter’s 22 office space transactions delivered an average letting size of 5,659 sq ft, which is a considerable 2,100 sq ft larger than the average found in the transaction results for Birmingham city centre for the same quarter.

Offices at Birmingham Business Park lead the resurgence

The largest letting in the quarter was office space taken at Birmingham Business Park; Canmoor secured IMI within 35,933 sq ft at 4060 Lakeside. Whilst IMI is already located in Birmingham Business Park in the adjacent building to 4060 Lakeside, they’ve decided to increase their holding by 8,500 sq ft and Canmoor already has strong interest in the 28,000 sq ft building they are vacating.

The Park, and particularly the assets controlled by Canmoor, have led the resurgence in the M42 and Solihull office market.

Despite the headlines grabbed by transactions for offices at Birmingham Business Park, 39% of the deals for the out-of-town office market were secured at junction 4 of the M42, compared to 31% at Junction 6.

Offices in Redditch and Bromsgrove remain popular despite lack of stock

Office space in Redditch and Bromsgrove has stayed popular, as they have done consistently for some time, securing the remaining 30% of the quarter’s transactions. This share of the overall deals for the quarter is impressive, given that the lack of stock on the M42 to corridor is most pronounced in this area.

Construction and consultancy driving office lettings

As for the business sectors that are expressing the most interest in the out of town office market, it continues to be construction and consultancy that have been the most active in the area. Costain, Dawnus and air conditioning companies – Mitsubushi, Daikin and Aspen Cooling – have all taken space this quarter; this, perhaps, highlights a spike in demand for the services they provide.

As for larger deals, we’re expecting several larger requirements to become active, something that is also anticipated in Birmingham city centre. However, we do not expect to see these in Q4’s statistics; rather, that they will appear in early 2015, due to the timeframe for the completion on these leases. This also means that the impressive statistics for 2014 are not a ‘blip’, with good figures continuing well into the New Year and beyond.

See full details of the transactions for office space in Solihull and M42 corridor.

For more information, please contact Mark Robinson on 0121 212 5994 or email mrobinson@kwboffice.com.