Birmingham offers a huge pool of both talent and resources supported by world class infrastructure and connectivity. The city is an ideal location for professional services with rental costs being significantly cheaper than London, with up to 50% lower prime rental costs than the capital, plus unparalleled physical infrastructure and connectivity to and from the city. These key advantages have enabled Birmingham to emerge as a leading destination for financial and professional services.
The financial and professional services hub in Greater Birmingham employs over 200,000 people across 23,000 companies.
Birmingham is one of only four UK cities with over 10,000 banking professionals and is home to the city centre Enterprise zone, one of the biggest regeneration projects in the UK, comprising of 26 sites across the city and providing 700,000m2 of office space for a range of sectors, including Financial Services.
Paradise Birmingham is one of the major schemes central to the Enterprise Zone. The completed scheme will create a high quality setting for office, civic, retail, leisure and hotel space providing major improvements to pedestrian access and greatly enhanced public areas.
The Snowhill district of the city centre is a hub for business, professional and financial services activity. Over the next 20 years there will be opportunities for residential development in the area. The Curzon area also has a large potential for growth with the future arrival of th HS2 line.
With 8 universities, two of have business schools in the global top 100, and 24 further education institutions within Greater Birmingham, a pool of professional talent is available to aid the sector. Additionally, collaboration between large firms such as Deutsche Bank, DTZ and KMPG with Birmingham Metropolitan College has seen the creation of the Greater Birmingham Professional Services Academy - fostering the professional talent of the city for future employment in the sector.