NEWS
TRIGRAM, FOLKES AND CORUM ACQUIRE CITY LAND TO DEVELOP GREEN “EXCELLENT” OFFICE
November 2007
Trigram Properties, Folkes Holdings and Corum Property Investments have acquired land in Birmingham City centre from developers Crest Nicholson for a new, speculative, 44,500 square feet ‘green office’ scheme.
Located off the junction of Holloway Head and Bath Row, only minutes walk from New Street Station and the Bullring, the proposed scheme is externally a mirror image of the adjacent Midland Heart building creating a striking architectural dynamic whilst internally offering a wealth of new initiatives to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating.
Trigram Director, Bill Houle commented, “This is the culmination of two years very hard work. Bringing together a like-minded team who shared one vision – a real confidence in the future of the ‘green office’ market.” The City Council’s endorsement of our plans supports our belief that this scheme will set a new benchmark standard for City offices.”
Folkes Holdings Ltd, like Trigram Properties, has a history of speculative development. During Folkes’ long established history in the West Midlands it has built a commercial property portfolio of over two million square feet and is also active in providing equity and mezzanine funding to like-minded developers and land owners nationwide.
Managing Director, Carl Griffin, said “We are working with Trigram because their ideas were exciting and innovative and feel we have found a similar forward thinking mentality to our own, where skills can be combined to create a spectacular office space. It was also an ideal opportunity for our colleagues at Corum, a recently formed Property investment fund, to gain early exposure to the UK commercial market”
This area of the City is currently undergoing rapid change, creating the link that joins The Mailbox and Crest Nicholson’s Park Central scheme.
The new grade A office will be complete by March 2009 and will incorporate an Institutional Standard specification. Philippa Pickavance from letting agent Drivers Jonas believes the office will provide a unique offering in the City centre. “Transport links are very good here with easy access to the motorway network, but also minutes walk from New Street Railway Station and yet in a ‘campus’ style setting with exceptional parking for the City at one space per 500 square feet. The BREEAM and ‘Green ‘ nature of the design will be very attractive to many occupiers, who are increasingly environmentally conscious. We are also very competitively priced with rents likely to be in the low £20s per square foot. We can let as a whole or will look at flexible multi-let options.”
Further information on the scheme is available from Philippa Pickavance at Drivers Jonas on 0121 236 8777.