Bruntwood Scitech Forges Ahead With Additional Investment Into Business District Hub, Cornerblock, And Bolsters Asset Management Team As Company Doubles Down On Commitment To Birmingham

The UK’s largest dedicated property platform serving the nation’s innovation economy, Bruntwood SciTech – a joint venture between Bruntwood, Legal & General and Greater Manchester Pension Fund – is continuing to deliver at pace its commitment to the future of Birmingham and the innovation community as it announces plans to transform one of its city centre innovation hubs, Cornerblock, into a forward-thinking workspace, and also appoints a new Senior Asset Manager to join the locally-based team, Moe Ali. 

Situated in heart of the Colmore Business District, home to global, market-leading companies such as Facepunch Studios, Arcadis and Mills and Reeve, Cornerblock will see its communal spaces transformed to provide new and improved areas where customers can collaborate and connect, as well as new state-of-the-art wellbeing facilities. 

Visitors will now be welcomed into a new reception area offering an impressive arrival space, concierge facilities, and places for businesses and their guests to meet and collaborate in new break-out areas and informal meeting spaces, enhancing the flexibility already on offer. 

In addition, the building's wellbeing facilities will be significantly improved through the addition of a new studio and cardio gym, a new, secure bike store with maintenance stations, and refurbished changing rooms to provide a refreshed and increased offering for customers - promoting a healthy work-life balance and encouraging active travel. 

Works, being delivered by Estilo, are due to commence in February and will complete in April. 

Rob Valentine, Regional Director - West Midlands for Bruntwood SciTech, commented: “Work starting at Cornerblock builds on the momentum gained during Bruntwood SciTech’s recent investment, as we move ahead with our increased commitment to Birmingham focused on creating spaces for innovation-led businesses to connect, collaborate, and grow. Cornerblock has the benefit of being situated at the heart of Birmingham’s important central business district, ideally positioning it to attract global, market-leading companies. Businesses also have the opportunity to connect into Bruntwood SciTech’s ecosystem of science and technology businesses that are at the forefront of many of the innovations of today, both at our other Birmingham locations - such as Innovation Birmingham, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus and the Cornwall Buildings, and across the UK. Our mission is to ensure that Birmingham is at the heart of this progress by providing the state-of-the-art workspaces businesses need, alongside the knowledge and backing of industry and university partners.”

Exemplifying their ambitions, Bruntwood SciTech has also expanded its locally-based West Midlands team and announced the appointment of Moe Ali as Senior Asset Manager. In his new role, Ali will be responsible for driving Bruntwood SciTech’s programme of transformations across its portfolio in Birmingham as it moves at pace and scale with its commitments to provide this much-needed innovation space. 

He joins from Oval Real Estate where he spent the last three years as an Asset Manager for the Digbeth Estate, while he also has experience working across Birmingham’s CBD in his previous role at Colliers. 

Commenting on his new role Ali said: “I have been a huge admirer of Bruntwood SciTech for a number of years. Its ongoing commitment to the continued advancement of Birmingham and the innovation economy, support for technology and science-driven businesses, and close relationships with key stakeholders will create a legacy for the region. In my new role, I hope to build on this success creating best-in-class workspaces to support the ambitions of the people and businesses across the city and region.”

Bruntwood SciTech currently has a number of significant projects either underway or recently completed across Birmingham. Enterprise Wharf at the Innovation Birmingham campus, one of Birmingham’s first SMART buildings, completed in Q4 of 2023, doubling the size of the campus. It forms part of the Birmingham Innovation Quarter (B-IQ) masterplan, a partnership between Bruntwood SciTech, Aston University and Birmingham City Council, and is aimed at establishing the city as a tech and health innovation hub internationally.

Meanwhile, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus (BHIC) is due to complete construction in Spring of this year. In partnership with The University of Birmingham, No.1 BHIC offers 133,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art, flexible office and lab space aimed at businesses focused on areas including medtech, biopharma, healthcare AI and cancer research. BHIC has been designed to train the workforce of the future to deliver multidisciplinary research and healthcare. 

In the coming months, Bruntwood SciTech also has plans to enhance and refurbish a number of its other city centre innovation hubs.

Valentine added: “We are thrilled that Moe has joined us at what is an incredibly exciting time for Bruntwood SciTech, but also the city of Birmingham. Following significant investment, we are ready to hit the ground running this year and get underway with our extensive plans to develop and enhance office and lab-enabled space across the city, building on the existing ecosystem we have already established here. Through our ongoing projects, we are aiming to provide opportunities for Birmingham to compete globally and act as a springboard for forward-thinking businesses to develop, grow and ultimately thrive.” 

The plans follow Bruntwood SciTech’s announcement in October 2023 of a half a billion pound commitment to support the the UK’s innovation economy and welcomed the UK’s largest local authority pension fund, Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) into the partnership, alongside existing partners Bruntwood and Legal & General who made an additional significant increase in investment, through cash and asset transfer. 

Now the largest dedicated property platform serving the UK’s innovation economy, Bruntwood SciTech aims to create a £5 billion UK-wide portfolio that can support 2,600 high-growth businesses by 2032, with Birmingham and the wider region a priority for these plans, building on Bruntwood SciTech’s existing significant investment into the city.