Birmingham - The UK's Number One Commercial Property Hotspot

Such was the demand for serviced office space in Birmingham last year that, outside of London, the city has come out on top in the 2007 ranking of commercial property hotspots compiled by officebroker.com.

The company, which works with more than 97% of the UK’s serviced office space providers and landlords, analyses its own extensive brokerage data on an annual basis to provide an interesting and timely snapshot of the country’s commercial property market.

While central London and towns along the M4 corridor feature heavily in the officebroker.com Top 10, it is Birmingham which is stealing a march on rival towns and cities in the UK, when it comes to demand for serviced office space from the business community.

“Birmingham continues to thrive, both as a business environment but also as a great city to live in,” says Jim Venables, Managing Director of officebroker.com, the UK’s leading online office brokering business. “Demand for office space remains extremely strong. Indeed, in 2007 we saw a 41% increase in the number of enquiries for service office space in the city compared to the previous year and, outside of London, we brokered more deals for businesses seeking space in Birmingham than anywhere else in the UK.”

“The range of office space available in Birmingham is vast,” continues Jim. “From funky warehouse space to out of town business parks, contemporary city centre developments to period style office accommodation, this is a city that offers the business community an incredible amount of choice in terms of available space, therefore allowing it to meet the diverse needs of many different types of business.”

Other popular towns and cities which saw demand increase significantly in 2007 include Liverpool, the 2008 Capital of Culture, where officebroker.com has also seen revenue increase by some 46% from 2006 to 2007.

The serviced office sector in the UK continues to thrive and landlords looking to let space in Birmingham, Liverpool, Warrington or indeed any other area in the UK can contact officebroker.com for national and regional sales and marketing support

Jim Venables, MD, officebroker.com

“High levels of investment in Liverpool and the city’s Capital of Culture status have no doubt boosted its standing as a place to do business in,” says Jim. “We expect strong demand to continue for the foreseeable future.”

Additional hotspots cited include Warrington, a viable and popular alternative business location to Liverpool and Manchester and Cardiff, Cambridge and Leeds. Nottingham, Watford and Bristol also enjoyed significant interest and growth throughout 2007.

Launched in 2001 by entrepreneurs Jim Venables and Andy Haywood, officebroker.com has grown into a multi-million pound enterprise with offices in the UK and US, and plans to launch a division in Hong Kong in 2008. Group turnover during the period April 2007 to April 2008 is expected to be in excess of £8 million.

Jim Venables says: “The serviced office sector in the UK continues to thrive and landlords looking to let space in Birmingham, Liverpool, Warrington or indeed any other area in the UK can contact officebroker.com for national and regional sales and marketing support.

“2007 also saw the launch of the new officebroker.com Insight Consultancy Service,” continues Jim. “We recognised the value of the market data that we have acquired since we first started trading in 2001 and, by using this data, and our own in-depth and regional knowledge of the sector, we are able to offer advice to developers looking into the serviced office sector, providing them with tailored reports for their chosen locations throughout the UK and beyond.”