6. Birmingham: The value for money solution
Locating GBR’s HQ in Birmingham will offer significant real-estate and salary cost savings versus London and
the South-East, whilst its abundance of property choice and depth of talent pool will contribute to long- term financial and operating efficiencies versus other
UK locations.
Office space:
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Prime Grade A office rents in Central Birmingham - £37.50 per sq ft (CoStar, Feb 2022).
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High quality new-build Grade A space available from £28 per sq ft within inner ring road.
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When including service charge and rates, like for like property is over 50% cheaper than in City of Westminster.
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Other towns and cities may offer lower per sq. ft rental rates, figures can be misleading if offered within small floor-plate developments.
- The large, efficient floor plates proposed, and other major developments across Birmingham, can support excellent occupational densities, offering efficiencies that compensate for differentials in listed rental rates.
The proposed sites make good use of public money, particularly 5 Centenary Square and Baskerville House - potential shared spaces and infrastructure with other civil service occupiers, in line with GPA’s ‘superhub’ concept.
Agglomeration of professional and transport sector skills
- One of the objectives of the Places for Growth programme is to create sustainable clusters of civil service talent in regional locations outside of the Capital.
- This will accelerate economic efficiencies, by reducing reliance on expensive talent populations in London.
- Reduces the reliance on expensive consulting/ contracting solutions required where attracting sufficient talent becomes difficult.
- Birmingham is home to the largest cluster of business, professional and financial talent (see table 1).
- The city has most significant agglomeration of transport and rail talent outside of the Capital (see table 2).
- Ideal and cost-effective location, insulated from the employment market shocks that might be experienced in a smaller town, city or region.
Table 1: Modern Business Services
| CombAuth | Empl. |
| WMCA | 343,000 |
| Triple LEP | 312,450 |
| Greater Manchester | 273,000 |
| West Yorkshire | 200,000 |
| Glasgow CR | 133,220 |
| West of England | 112,000 |
Table 2: Future mobility employment
| Region | Future Mobility Employment |
| West Midlands | 216,595 |
| North West | 206,080 |
| South East | 189,315 |
| East Midlands | 184,875 |
| South West | 165,460 |
| East | 164,250 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 139,325 |
| Scotland | 106,755 |
| London | 105,685 |
| Wales | 72,010 |
| North East | 64,145 |
Talent
Establishing GBR HQ alongside DfT, DLUH and BEIS would enable GBR to source experienced civil service talent and create multi-department/ agency career paths, keeping expert talent within the region.
56,000 graduates leave WMCA universities every year, including those from the largest school of Rail Engineering in Europe at the University of Birmingham.
Birmingham and the West Midlands are uniquely positioned to provision for the long-term health of GBR’s talent pool.