Just when Birmingham could do with the morale-lifting prospect of a 200K SF office requirement, one rolls along courtesy of HM Government.

The Government Property Agency is in the early stages of procuring 200K SF of central Birmingham floorspace with a number of developments in the city in the running, React News reports.

The Government Property Agency has been increasingly focused on Birmingham.

They are already at work on a new hub at Platform 21, which is inside the former Woolworth's building in the New Street Conservation area. The hub will be developed by LaSalle Investment Management, working with development manager Evenacre, and from 2021 will be home to about 1,700 civil servants.

The development is the second hub to be announced in Birmingham, following 3 Arena Central, which will house a further 3,600 civil servants when it opens in 2021.

The Birmingham hub alone is set to save taxpayers £6M annually through improved efficiency.

Government requirements formed the backbone of the Birmingham office market’s slender take-up figures in Q2 2020: 54K SF of the 62K SF transacted was accounted for by the Department of Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Justice, according to Birmingham Office Market Forum figures.

The DWP is behind plans for new job centres that alone are expected to generate a requirement for 1M SF of new floorspace, React News reports.