Record resi projects in Birmingham but new construction starts to fall

Residential accommodation continues to be the driving force behind Birmingham's property development market.

The annual Crane Survey, published today, says the sector dominates the work taking place across the city centre despite a year-on-year fall in the number of construction projects starting on site.

The 23rd Birmingham Crane Survey, which is published by financial services firm Deloitte, monitors construction activity across a range of sectors including office, residential, hotels and retail.

Similar surveys are also published annually for Belfast, Leeds and Manchester and to qualify for inclusion projects must meet minimum size thresholds such as at least 25,000 sq ft for offices and more than 25 units for residential.

The research said the number of new projects breaking ground in Birmingham dropped from 20 in 2023 to 11 last year, comprising six residential schemes, two each for offices and student flats and one infrastructure.

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The dominance of residential was mirrored in completed projects during 2024, with a record 3,180 homes across 17 schemes coming to the market - a huge rise on the 1,908 the year before.

This included 504 build-to-rent units across 19 storeys at The Bath House, in Bromsgrove Street, and The Square, in Broad Street, which contains 440 units over 36 storeys, also for rent only.

In the office sector, 310,424 sq ft of floorspace was finished during 2024 and a further 814,574 sq ft of office space is currently under development.

Among those office projects to start last year were a revamp and extension of 35 Newhall Street and the regeneration of Typhoo Wharf in Digbeth to become The Tea Factory which will provide a new home for the BBC.

In student housing, just 208 bed spaces were completed last year however this is dwarfed by the 2,242 currently under construction which is the highest amount recorded in the history of the Birmingham Crane Survey.

Infrastructure was added as a new sector for the research in 2024 as work started on HS2's Curzon Street station.

There were no hotel projects started, under construction nor completed in Birmingham during last year. Overall, the number of completed projects was 24 and there are 36 schemes currently under construction, a drop from 44 in 2023.

Zoe Davidson, a partner in infrastructure and real estate at Deloitte Midlands, said: "Across all the crane surveys this year, it is evident there has been a slowdown in developer activity but Birmingham continues to set new records despite a challenging economy.

"Rising inflation, labour and construction costs and global economic conditions have all impacted developer activity with many schemes with planning permission yet to break ground.

"The retail, healthcare, education and hotel sectors reflect a slowing of activity, with no new schemes starting on site but the planning pipeline is strong across all sectors."

Looking further ahead, Birmingham has a healthy pipeline of projects tabled for work to start, according to Deloitte's report.

These include around six million sq ft of offices, two million sq ft of education and innovation floorspace, 2,500 hotel rooms and 11,700 student bedrooms.

Among some of the headline projects are Birmingham City's masterplan for the former Wheels go karting track in Bordesley Green and the long-running work at Edgbaston cricket stadium which includes a new stand and hotel.

For the first time since the inaugural Birmingham Crane Survey in 2002, the geographical definition of the city centre has been expanded to mirror that in the council's 'Our Future City Plan'.

This is defined as fives keys areas - heart (Colmore district and city core), North (Eastside, Aston Triangle, Gun Quarter), east (Bordesley, Digbeth, Small Heath), south (Balsall Heath, Edgbaston, Highgate) and west (Hockley, Jewellery Quarter, Ladywood).

Ms Davidson added: "The decision to expand the boundary of this year's survey is indicative of Birmingham's ambitious plans and mirrors the city's ambition for future growth.

"Residential remains strong but, looking forward, the pipeline across all sectors is positive.

"Although funding construction is becoming increasingly difficult, HS2 and the start of Curzon Street station is driving developer and investor confidence in the region.