1. Birmingham: Home of GBR HQ
We propose that GBR HQ is situated in Birmingham.
The City Centre offers a wealth of Grade A office space within close walking distance of Birmingham New Street, Moor Street and Snow Hill. We would recommend a comprehensive commercial property search to identify the building that best suits GBR’s space and specification, once these are known.
5 Centenary Square
Completing in 2023, a new build 200,000sq ft primeofficedevelopmentattheheartoftheCity’s Innovation District (a 3-min walk from Birmingham New Street). The Government Property Agency is already in process to secure a long-term lease on the entire building, with the site ear-marked as a civil service ‘transport and infrastructure cluster’, which will become home to over 1,000 staff from DfT, DLUHC and National Highways.
Located on the same public square as Network Rail’s pre-existing regional operating centre (Baskerville House), this location will reinforce the work already undertaken by the Places for Growth Programme and offer unparalleled agglomeration of civil service transport and infrastructure talent at the heart of the UK.
Grand Central
A state of the art mixed-use development built directly above Birmingham New Street Station, with the freehold still held by Network Rail. With Covid and other economic pressures impacting demand for retail space, Hammerson (the headlease holder) are open to converting some retail units in to grade A office space, including part of the former flagship John Lewis store. We believe that no other UK location could offer a comparable ‘statement’ location at the very heart of the UK’s rail network that would also embody the UK’s post-Covid recovery, by bringing new employment to a site directly impacted by the pandemic.
Baskerville House
Located just a 5-minute walk from Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill, Baskerville House is an award-winning, refurbished Grade II listed office development and formerly HQ of Birmingham City Council. Situated in Birmingham’s largest public square (Centenary Square), it’s already home to almost 800 Network Rail staff. The building could offer either a permanent HQ location, or a cost- effective interim option (co-location within Network Rail’s existing lease), whilst a new-build HQ site reaches completion nearby.
The benefits to Birmingham of accommodating GBR HQ
There are a wide range of benefits to Birmingham and its people, as set out throughout the document, including:
Strengthening the city’s position as a Centre of Excellence for transport policy, governance, research and operations
Supporting the levelling-up of the region
Restoring Civic Pride in the West Midlands Job creation and economic growth
Support for one regional HQ bid from other key towns and cities across the WMCA area; including Coventry, Solihull and Wolverhampton.
Birmingham and the West Midlands Combined Authority region
The West Midlands covers three cities; Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, with a £105bn economy the size of Hungary. The Combined Authority area is home to 2.9m people.
We view the region, and this bid, as being “Today’s West Midlands for Tomorrow’s Great British Railways”. Everything your headquarters will need, and benefit from, is already here in the West Midlands.
Organisations are attracted here by the quality of life, with cost of living 40% lower than the capital, and by the connectivity that places us at the heart of the UK economy.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) area is at the centre of the national railway network with a long and proud tradition of railway manufacturing, operations and innovation. You only need to look at a map to see the centrality of the West Midlands, and the development of HS2 will strengthen this connection.
The region has one of the most comprehensive commuter rail networks in the UK, enabling access to a wide talent pool. The West Midlands region is also an innovation playground, with the highest number of start-ups and most diverse population of any region outside of London.
Birmingham is at the heart of the WMCA area, and is a large, thriving city with a both deep history and promising future in rail transportation.
Building a healthier, happier, better connected and more prosperous region.
- Highest growth rate of any UK region outside of London.
- £29bn size of Birmingham's Economy.
- Highest number of internal migrants outside of any regional city.
- 32% of the population are under 35.
Industry support:
WMCA’s bid is supported by the following organisations. Letters of Support are available on request.
- Birmingham City Council
- West Midlands Growth Company
- Transport for West Midlands
- West Midlands Rail Executive
- Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce
- BCRRE
- Avanti West Coast
- West Midlands Railway
