After three years in which office refurbishment has scarcely taken place outside Birmingham's prime city office core, is it about to make a comeback?

The higher values associated with residential conversions have dissauded landowners from opting for office refurbishment. Areas like the residential-dominated Birmingham Southside have been particularly starved of refreshed office floorspace.

Until now, that is. Paloma Capital has done its sums, and decided that offices will work at the 51K SF Albany House, Hirst Street.

The block will be rebranded as the Southside Building after a £2.5M makeover which will make a virtue of the building's mid-century design.

The office area on the first floor will be reconfigured to provide a combination of flexible coworking space, smaller cellular offices and open-plan suites, along with a bookable meeting room and breakout area.

“Southside is dynamic and vibrant and this extensive programme of works will ensure that The Southside Building is seen as an attractive opportunity for Birmingham’s burgeoning range of SMEs, tech companies and startups looking for well-positioned, high-quality and affordable city-centre offices," Paloma Capital Investment Director Jeremy Thiagarajah said.

The works, which are due to be completed in the first quarter of 2020, will be undertaken by fit-out and refurbishment specialist Willmott Dixon Interiors. Savills and LSH have been appointed as office lettings agents.

Paloma Capital is a private equity real estate investor established in 2015 and wholly owned by its founding partners, Joe Froud and Jack Pitman. The company acquired Albany House in November 2017.