National Highways, the government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving England's motorways and major A roads, has chosen M&G Real Estate's Three Snowhill for its major office requirement.
M&G has signed the agency, formerly the Highways Agency, for 58,750 square feet across the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the 420,000-square-foot building in the centre of Birmingham. The building is home to national telecommunications provider BT, which occupies 283,540 square feet of space. It is also home to health and wellness centre MK Healthhub.
The £200 million Three Snowhill was the UK’s largest speculative office development outside London and became a hub for up to 4,000 BT staff.
Ballymore began the comprehensive redevelopment of The Snowhill Estate in 2006, delivering the first two buildings, One and Two Snowhill, by 2013.
In 2014, M&G Real Estate, a long term investor in Birmingham, bought Two Snowhill. Two years later, M&G financed the third phase of the Snowhill development, Three Snowhill.
Aaron Pope, portfolio director of offices asset management at M&G Real Estate, said in a statement: “This significant letting to National Highways underscores Three Snow Hill’s premier status within Birmingham’s business landscape and reflects the ongoing demand for high-quality, well-located office space. The positive trends we are seeing in the city’s commercial real estate market, including robust transaction activity and significant infrastructure investments, continue to enhance its attractiveness as a prime business hub, which will help to drive returns for our clients.”
National Highways director of estates, services and facilities, Steve Cooke, added: “The move will enable us to bring our Birmingham-based teams together under one roof at a convenient location in the centre of the city enabling better collaborative working and building on the community workplace feel that we have developed.
“It is essential to us that our staff are happy with their workplace so when our office leases were coming to an end, we worked hard to find the most suitable space available. We are delighted that our new home in Birmingham has close transport links, flexible workspace and excellent wellbeing facilities. This move aligns with our workplace and location strategy to create better, greener and smaller workplaces.”
Savills and JLL advised M&G Real Estate, while Avison Young is advising National Highways.