At the moment the major question in Birmingham is how much of its future, and ambitious, regeneration plan it can start in the near future.

There has been a lot achieved so far and few people would not wish to see the improvement process continue. But there is a squeeze on government spending and a cautious commercial property industry.

Of immediate interest will be Irish developer Ballymore's quest for a partner for the second phase of the 55,740 sq.metres (600,000 sq.ft.) Snowhill scheme, which is already partially completed but will need an investment of another £110 million. The interesting point is that the block (just over half the total scheme) is 60% pre let to the law firm Wragg & Co.

Adding spice to the situation is that One Snowhill has been sold to the German fund Commerz for £126 million, a yield of 6.2%. It would appear to be an ideal moment to complete the block (probably by 2012) because the lack of speculative building means that a shortage of prime space will occur. Savills is now marketing Two Snowhill.

Adding to the uncertainty is that the original plan for the £6 billion regeneration of the Eastside has been put on hold because the plan for a high speed rail link to London is to be routed through the area. There is another level of uncertainty because the new government's squeeze on spending might hit the rail proposal.

Eastside is part of a grand plan (Big City Plan) costing £17 billion to improve Birmingham, details of which are due to be published in September. One action taken recently was to go back to the drawing board for architect Glenn Howells' master plan for the 420 acre regeneration.

Head of Birmingham Regeneration Waheed Nazir is clear that "private sector involvement is the bedrock of the delivery of the Big City Plan (BCP). We need far more private/public sector relationships to jointly deliver the plan."

Northern Trust is one of a number of, mostly private companies, throughout the UK who have a long term view and will stick with that policy through the variations in the economy. The steady approach has brought a portfolio scattered throughout northern England and the Midlands to a value of £8.5 billion. For example, it has recently had three lettings at its North Staffordshire Business Park that takes the occupancy rate up to 80%. What it is offering are suitably sized units for companies,in this case relatively small. There are now only 4 of the 17 units vacant. Joint agent on the development, together with Whittle Jones Midlands, is Stephen Doherty of Daniel& Hulme who said "North Staffs Business Park has proved to be exceptionally successful, and reflects Northern Trust's ongoing commitment to provide high quality warehouse/workshop units." The business park is part of Northern Trust's £8.5 million investment in the Chatterley Valley and is adjacent to the A500 dual carriageway and within 5 miles of the M6 motorway.

One new scheme that has come onto the market (the first office this year) is Chord's 2,360 sq.metres (25,400 sq.ft.) 40 St Paul's Square in the Jewellery Quarter. The offices are on the ground and first floors of the mixed use scheme, with suites being offered for rent or freehold sale through GBR Property Consultants and Savills. GBR's Mark Robinson said: "The building offers an equivalent specification to that found within the city's established office core but is available in this unique location at a significant discount." Snowhill Station and the Jewellery Quarter metro station are within walking distance.

GBR Phoenix Beard has unveiled its new corporate identity, as seen on the front cover of this edition of CPR, following the announcement in May that the directors of Phoenix Beard and GBR had voted to merge their businesses. The new company will work from Phoenix Beard's listed offices in Newhall Street from the beginning of July 2010.

Birmingham City Council is doing its bit to improve the city and work has started on a long term £2.7 billion PFI highway project with its partner Amey. The argument is that the start of the contract will be "a substantial boost for the region" by securing a large number of jobs with around 250 employees transferred from the council to work with Amey. A further 300 jobs will be created over the next year as work on the road network increases. Birmingham councillor Timothy Huxtable commented: "This is the start of a grand vision for the city, not only through surface improvement to highways' landscape but also a boost for the heart of the local economy."

The UK office market is now showing signs of stability after the traumas of the past few years as rents and incentives stabilise.

That is the view of Jones Lang LaSalle in its research into 165 office centres throughout the UK. There are a number of towns and cities where rents are now rising, such as Derby and Newcastle-under-Lyme, due to an addition of new quality offices.

The research also shows that in a number of major regional cities (it mentions Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds) "rental levels have remained unchanged since March 2009."

JLL's Angus Currie said: "Supply of prime offices is tightening in certain core markets with rents and incentives firming up as a result. With little development likely to come through in the short to medium term, we anticipate that this trend will continue as the availability of quality and better located space decreases. Our advice to occupiers in many markets is to act sooner rather than later to secure space on preferential terms and to deliver tangible benefits to the bottom line."

This message certainly applies in the Midlands, particularly in Birmingham, and should be widely appreciated.

In Nottingham, Savills notes "a marked increase in local confidence, particularly in the restaurant and leisure sectors. The number of companies looking to establish themselves within Nottingham and the surrounding areas has once again started to increase." In this case, Savills quotes the example of the letting of the former Scruffy's Restaurant in the Lace Market within 24 hours of receiving the instruction.

The agent says that "the Lace Market and Hockley are enjoying a revival." While this may apply to leisure it also illustrates the growing appeal of Nottingham as a business location.

The overall improvement in Nottingham is also shown by the completion of a £3.5 million Biomedical Research Unit at Nottingham University Queens Medical Centre. It was developed by Simons Group, a privately owned property solutions business established in 1944.

Although there is a shortage of tenants prepared for pre let deals, Network Rail is in the market for large amounts of space for its back office operation. A number of cities are in the frame for offices, but Birmingham is clearly a favourite since a Network Rail spokesman said they would concentrate on world class facilities such as the offices at the Mailbox. He added that, "As a large, geographically dispersed organisation we keep close to the property market so we are aware of future potential opportunities."

Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) is a developer that believes in the dynamics of Nottingham since it is proposing to add a 37,160 sq.metres (400,000 sq.ft.) extension to its Victoria Centre Shopping Mall. CSC, which has been spun off its parent company, Liberty International to become a UK regional shopping centre REIT, is currently working on feasibility studies with the Nottingham City Council, on where to site the extension. CSC's Martin Breedon commented: "There is an opportunity to react to demand in the city and provide further modern flagship shops now. Plans include knocking down the bus station and car park, re-siting the station elsewhere in the city and providing a replacement car park in the basement of the existing scheme." There is a big opportunity here, particularly as it would move CSC ahead of Westfield, which together with its joint venture partner the Royal Mail Pension Fund, has been trying for many years to redevelop its ageing 41,805 sq.metres (450,000 sq.ft.) Broadmead Centre. This has been delayed by the UK recession. CSC's decisive approach underlines Savills' view that Nottingham could be one of those UK cities due for a long term re-rating.

Property Investment Portfolio (PIP) said the recession has done little to dent its business and has achieved its fifth year in a row of increasing profits, the latest being a rise in turnover to £4 million and a 100% increase in profits. The company's owner, Arv Soar, said of the Nottingham based group that "I've been trading through three recessions, and so have many of my team. We understand how to invest in good and bad markets, which is one of the reasons why we achieved good results over the past year."

The upheaval and rationalisation in the commercial property market, as well as the economy at large, has had its effect in the Midlands.

For example, the wealth management arm of the Anglo Irish Bank is seeking a buyer for its 18,859 sq.metres office at 1 Colmore Square, Birmingham, for £90 million, a yield of 5.75%, the same price it paid the developer Richardson Barberry in 2004, a year after the property was completed.

The fact is that the Irish investors and financial institutions, like others in many countries, are under pressure. Some investors are also taking profits in the upswing in the market. Another example is that the private Irish company Signature Capital is seeking £23.6 million for Direct Line House, 10-15 Livery Street.

Some property companies have gone bust, such as a number of Junared companies where Deloitte is the administrator. Deloitte's Joint Administrators Matt Cowlishaw and Dominic Wong have completed the sale of the the partially completed scheme on the site of the former Birmingham Mint at Hockley to Raybone Developments.

This mixed use development is to have 192 residentlal units and 4,738 sq.metres of commercial space. Construction stopped in September 2007 just as the UK was moving into a tougher economic climate.

The picture is, however, far from being totally negative. New deals are going ahead, such as Standard Life investments, on behalf of the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, forward funding a 210 bedroom Travelodge at Birmingham Wholesale Market, a regeneration area. In this case, it is on the site of the former UPS parcel depot next to the Bullring Shopping Centre and is part of a £45 million mixed use scheme by Gallan Developments. The hotel will be completed next year.

Meanwhile, ASDA has launched the first phase of its £100 million investment in Birmingham by considering a large store on Barnes Hill as part of a programme that will include supermarkets and mixed use developments in the city.

Network Space, the joint venture between Langtree and the Homes and Communities Agency, has carved out for itself a special place in the market in regenerating communities in former coal mining areas. In Nottinghamshire, it has recently signed up six new tenants to lease a total of 1,514 sq.metres, mainly small units, on the Sherwood Networks Centre, Ollerton. The development has workspace and offices. It is an interesting mix of companies that have taken the space, ranging from Eclectic Energy (a micro wind turbine manufacturer and distributor) and SIGCyclone UK, a group who sell integral railway signalling system products and offer assurance solutions. The 4,738 sq.metres centre is, according to Leona Taylor Piggott of Network Space, now 54% let. It is located in the Sherwood Energy Village and has easy access to Mansfield, Newark and Worksop and is close to the M1 and A1(M).

PXP West Midlands, a regeneration partnership, has started demolition and enabling work at the 23 acre Excelsior Industrial Estate, Blackheath near Dudley. The joint venture of Advantage West Midlands and Langtree bought the industrial estate last year and has been working closely with Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and the Police, Fire and Rescue Service to achieve the regeneration.

Andrew and Ashwell has become the joint selling/letting agent for the 14 unit SQ2 Industrial Park, Loughborough. Malcolm Grayson of A and A said: "These units offer well designed space for smaller companies and can be used by the owner to invest in a pension scheme."

We can, perhaps, take our views from a recent piece of research from Jones Lang LaSalle which indicates that the worst of the recession is over for the commercial property market with office rents and incentives now stabilising in 165 centres in the UK. The problem, which will become increasingly obvious, is that the UK is running out of Grade A offices, although it seems to have been understood in London where we have new schemes going ahead.

The reluctance to build new offices is understandable because investors and developers have taken a hammering in the past three years. Even so, they can see that the economy is slowly improving and that business will need new space or any meaningful improvement will be stifled.

How to get it going is the question because clearly the government and local authorities do not have the resources to make any difference.

It has to be the private sector and that probably initially means the big firms like Hammerson, Land Securities and British Land. Finance needs to be available because despite misplaced perceptions, a modern energy efficient office stock can help economic growth and a carbon free environment.

There has to be speculative building so that business areas have sufficient empty stock to satisfy changing needs.