£2M facelift for Birmingham's One Trinity Park4th June 2013

Birmingham's One Trinity Park is to be given a multi-million pound refurbishment in a bid to bring much needed office space to the city and the region.

The 20-year old headquarters building in Solihull is now well past its best, and the decision to spend in excess of £2m on it to restore it to its former glory is a rare one in an era of financial austerity.

However, real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, which is leading the refurbishment has managed to successfully recoup a large proportion of the cost through dilapidations, which is the amount of money commercial tenants pay at the end of a lease to restore a building to its original state.

Tim Brown, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s building consultancy in Birmingham, said a sizeable sum had been recovered from the previous tenant for dilapidations, and this would allow a comprehensive repair of the building to go ahead.

This would include remodelling the office and reception areas and restoring a central atrium, which was blocked off during the previous tenant’s occupation of the building. Work will also include new air conditioning and mechanical and electrical services.

“It is unusual to recover so much money from dilapidations and we will be working hard to use the money recovered and additional funds to achieve the most cost effective and beneficial refurbishment,” said Tim.

The aim is to turn the building into Grade A office space, which is in limited supply in Birmingham and the West Midlands at the moment. According to new research by Cushman & Wakefield, there are only two significant new buildings under construction or refurbishment in the city centre, which are Two Snowhill and 5 Brindleyplace.

In the out-of-town market, there are no new buildings under construction, and One Trinity Park will be the only significant refurbishment on the horizon.

The building is owned as an investment by the Belfast-based Presbyterian Mutual Society. Once the refurbishment work has been completed, it will be handed over to Cushman & Wakefield’s agency team to find new tenants.

Scott Rutherford, head of offices at the firm, said: “It is very rare for a refurbishment like this to be carried out before new tenants come along.

“Work is only just beginning on site, but when finished, the building will be as new. Once on the market, only long-term tenancies will be entertained, due to the quality of the building and its unrivalled location. We will be looking at a minimum of ten-year leases.”