London-based flexible office specialist The Office Group is to open as much as 150K SF of new flexible floorspace in Birmingham in the next 36 months.

The TOG debut will mean a direct and well-resourced challenge to U.S.-based coworking and flexible space provider WeWork.

Speaking exclusively to Bisnow, The Office Group Chief Executive Charlie Green said it intended to break into the Birmingham market with between three and five separate hubs.

"In a strong market like Birmingham we would be looking at between three and five buildings, with the 50-70K SF size range being about right for us, although we vary in size from 30K SF to 100K SF, depending on the opportunities. We would would be happy with around 150K SF in Birmingham," Green said.

"We are keen to open as soon as possible but we are not in a rush, and we'd like our outlets to be trading within the next two to three years."

The Office Group has 32 London hubs, and two outside London with representation in both Leeds and Bristol.

WeWork is close to agreeing its first Birmingham hub with a deal to take space at the 96K SF 6 Brindleyplace office building.

The deal is expetced to be the first of three as WeWork creates a cluster in central Birmingham, with deals also close to agreement at Snowhill and Paradise Circus.