WiredScore comes to Birmingham

WiredScore has announced its official Midlands launch, as prominent Birmingham landlords including Legal & General, M&G Real Estate, Patrizia, Ardstone, Ashby Capital, BlackRock, Calthorpe Estates, Hermes, Hines, LaSalle, LCR, Oval Real Estate, Paloma Capital and Sterling Property Ventures sign up to the Wired Certification rating scheme.

While individual landlords have achieved Wired Certification in the city previously, this is the first time Birmingham commercial property owners have made a collective commitment to their buildings’ connectivity.

How does Wired Certification work?

Wired Certification provides landlords and developers with an independent, trusted benchmark and the necessary insights to improve and futureproof their building connectivity standards allowing them to make better informed business decisions.

There are 4 levels of certification: Wired Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. To achieve Wired Certified Platinum a building must be best in class across all features of connectivity that matter most to tenants, including number and quality of internet service providers, redundancy and resiliency of infrastructure, ease of installation, and capacity to readily support new telecom services.

So far Colmore Building, 1 Colmore Square, and Three Snowhill have achieved Platinum Certification in Birmingham.

Who has signed up to Wired Certification in Birmingham?

Over 3m sq ft of office space in the city has been registered to the scheme. The full list of buildings is:

• 9 Brindley Place, Hines
• Platform 21, LaSalle Investment Management
• 1 Colmore Square, Legal and General
• The Lewis Building, Legal and General
• Three Snowhill, M&G Real Estate and Ballymore
• 1 Newhall Street, Ardstone Capital
• The Colmore Building, Ashby Capital
• 100 Hagley Road, Calthorpe Estates
• Tricorn House, CEG
• Alpha Tower, CEG
• 1 Edmund Gardens, DTZ Investors
• Buildings 1 and 4 Axis Square, LCR
• The Custard Factory, Oval Real Estate
• 103 Colmore Row, Sterling Property Ventures and Rockspring Property Investment Managers
• Regency House, Calthorpe Estatees
• Southside Building, Paloma Capital
• Baskerville House, Hermes
• Beorma Quarter, Salhia Investments

Oval Real Estate’s The Custard Factory has signed up for Wired Certification.

Why has WiredScore come to Birmingham now?

To accompany its launch into the Birmingham office market, WiredScore has released research that shows the optimum concern for business leaders in Birmingham is the quality of their Internet connection. A total of 97% of interviewed business leaders prioritise connectivity when selecting office space, which was considered even more essential than traditional factors such as price (94%) and location, (92%) as well as more current concerns such as environmental friendliness (76%).

The importance of connectivity is further highlighted by the West Midlands being selected as the UK’s first multi-city 5G test bed, making the region the first in the UK ready to trial new 5G applications and services at scale.

William Newton, president at WiredScore, commented: “We have certainly seen, and continue to see, a shift towards the obligation being placed on landlords to provide strong connectivity in their buildings. In order to remain competitive business leaders need the guarantee that their office space has the ability to meet their technological requirements with the right infrastructure in place. There is a tangible global demand for this service.

“Birmingham represents the next natural step for us in our UK expansion, as England’s second city it is a significant market for the national economy. This has become even more apparent given the demand from decision makers for connectivity in the city. The momentum of Wired Certification continues, and we are excited to be expanding our reach and client network.”

Neil Rami, chief executive at the West Midlands Growth Company, said: “Digital connectivity is increasingly becoming an integral decision making factor for businesses looking to expand or relocate in the region. The West Midlands becoming the UK’s first 5G test bed will ensure the region is responding to this demand and offering the optimum environment for businesses looking to grow and innovate.

“Welcoming WiredScore to the region demonstrates to businesses as an attractive location for business and this is further underpinned by strong transport links which will only improve with the arrival of HS2 in 2026.”