Office opposite HS2's Curzon Street station comes to market as works progress

An office building directly opposite the site of HS2's future Curzon Street station has come up for sale, as work on the high-speed line into Birmingham city centre continues to gather pace.

The 7,784 sq ft building at 28-34 Albert Street is available to buy, with the price on application, or to rent at £105,000 a year. The commercial agent Bromwich Hardy is handling the sale.

A front-row seat for HS2

The building offers flexible floor space suitable for open-plan offices, meeting rooms and shared working areas, and sits within walking distance of the Colmore Business District.

Rob Lord, of Bromwich Hardy, said: "Not only is the property in a future HS2 Gateway location, it is also within easy walking distance of the city's established commercial, retail and leisure amenities."

He added: "As Birmingham city centre's revival continues, the arrival of HS2 is going to be a major driver of future economic growth."

The station takes shape

Construction of Curzon Street station is well under way. Sitting between Moor Street station and Millennium Point, it will have seven high-speed platforms, and it is set to be the city centre terminus of the new line.

Work on the route into the city is also moving forward. In August, engineers launched the first section of the Duddeston Junction Viaduct, the most technically demanding of the five viaducts carrying the line into Curzon Street. In September, HS2 completed major bridge works over the M42 at Water Orton and near the NEC.

Anyone walking or driving along the eastern edge of the city centre can see the change for themselves, with the long concrete viaduct structures and the station foundations now a major feature of the skyline around Curzon Street and Digbeth.

A long-term bet

The honest catch is time. Following the government's reset of the project in May, the first services between Old Oak Common in west London and Curzon Street are now expected to begin between May 2036 and October 2039. Investors buying into the area on the strength of HS2 will need patience.

Even so, the area around the new station is already changing. Eastside has seen a wave of new university buildings, homes and offices in recent years, and the stretch between Moor Street and Millennium Point is expected to become one of the busiest gateways into the city once trains begin running.

What it means

For businesses looking for space close to the city centre, a building with a direct view of one of Britain's biggest infrastructure projects offers a chance to get in early. For Birmingham, every investment around Curzon Street is another sign of confidence in the long-term future of the east side of the city, which was for decades cut off from the centre by railway lines and ring roads.

The listing is a small piece of a much bigger story, but it shows that the property market is already pricing in the arrival of high-speed rail, years before the first passenger steps off a train.