Solihull: Office market is resilient, says report

Enthusiasm: Solihull pupils get active during rehearsals

Sixth form students take to the stage

Aspiring young thespians at Solihull Sixth Form College have been sharpening up their acting skills, by taking part in a play as part of the National Theatre Connections Festival.

The students have been tasked with performing the play ‘Look Up’ by Andrew Muir, which has been written specifically for The National Theatre.

Pupils are responsible for all aspects of production from costume design to performing.

The play explores a world free from adult intervention, supervision and protection. It tells the story of nine young people, as they create new rules for what they hope will be a brighter future.

Rehearsals have been held via Microsoft Teams during lockdown, and started in person rehearsals in March.

The group will perform a ‘Home Performance’, which will be watched by a mentor director from The National Theatre and be given guidance and support to refine their production in preparation for the festival.

Students will work with Nottingham Playhouse as part of the festival and will have the opportunity to present their work on a professional stage and participate in workshops provided by the theatre during May half-term.

Nadia Kouhi, drama teacher at the college, said: “The National Theatre Connections Festival is a fantastic project to be involved with and I'm so pleased we have been able to continue this despite lockdown.

“It has been great to see the students developing their ideas and they really enjoyed the Zoom workshop with Andrew Muir, which gave them so many ideas.

“Now that college has reopened the students are able fine tune their performance with weekly rehearsals. I can't wait to see the finished product.”

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Staff at Bear Grylls Adventure have held an extraordinary meeting 65ft in the air, while finalising plans for reopening.

The informal meeting was on the attraction’s high ropes course, which reopened in April to thrill-seeking visitors. The course has some 36 obstacles, including rope bridges and rolling logs.

Other activities at the attraction are due to reopen on 20 May.

Office market is resilient, says report

Remarkable resilience in office market: John Bryce

Solihull’s office market is highly resilient, attracts a diverse range of sectors, and is one of few office locations in Greater Birmingham that offers businesses space they need to grow, according to a new report from KWB.

The findings have been revealed in a new report, Solihull & M42 office market insights for 2021, published by commercial property specialists KWB, which features six years of research on the Solihull and M42 office market.

The report contains a variety of advice for investors, developers and landlords on this area’s office market.

With this report, KWB has used its research spanning a six-year period from 2015 to 2020 to assess the long-term trends of this market, including Greater Birmingham’s popular out-oftown office locations, occupier behaviours and sectoral analysis.

John Bryce, director of KWB, said: “The Solihull commercial property market has shown remarkable resilience over the past decade, at times defying downward trends of the wider office market and the economy at large. This makes it an excellent investment opportunity for developers and those wanting to put their capital into commercial property.

‘The Solihull commercial property market has shown remarkable resilience’

“The statistics show that the area routinely achieves a sustainable level of annual office takeup of around 320,000 sq ft. This report demonstrates that, despite 2020, Solihull and the M42 corridor still hold the same potential they’ve demonstrated in previous years.

“We’ve included a range of information indicating what’s likely to happen this year as the lockdown eases and companies return to their offices. It’s going to be less ‘me space’ and more ‘we space’.

“We do expect to see some businesses reducing their office footprint. And this will create welcome opportunities for occupiers that have been seeking space in the area for a long time.”

Widower builds adoption legacy

Adoption legacy: Harjinder and his late wife Geeta

A widowed man is being helped by an agency in Birmingham to help build an adoption legacy in the name of his late wife.

Harjinder Kalsi tragically lost his wife Geeta to Covid-19 in January at the age of just 45, as they were on the verge of becoming parents through adoption.

In Geeta’s memory, Harjinder is now leading a campaign to raise money to help others going through the adoption process and to encourage more people to consider adoption.

Harjinder said: “When Geeta died I felt like my dreams and my future died with her. It is still incredibly raw, but what is keeping me going now is to do something positive in Geeta’s memory –something I know she would want me to do.

“I’m raising money for an adoption charity and I also want to get the message out there to encourage people to adopt – to tell them that the process is not as scary and daunting as they might think.”

Harjinder and Geeta had been approved for adoption by Adoption@ Heart who, following Geeta’s death, put Harjinder in touch with Adoption Focus, which was crowned ‘Outstanding Charity of the Year’ at Solihull Chamber’s 2020 annual awards.

The memorial campaign has raised more than £5,000 so far.

Adoption Focus CEO Anna Sharkey said: “It is a privilege for Adoption Focus to be working with Harjinder in his amazing efforts to honour the memory of his wife Geeta in such a positive way”

Covid-safe business pledge is launched

Solihull Council has teamed up with Coventry and Warwickshire councils to launch a new Covid-safe business pledge.

The initiative is aimed at all businesses across the regions, including shops, factories, offices and eventually hospitality, as a way of reassuring staff and customers that businesses and venues are operating in a Covid-secure manner.

It is entirely voluntary, but by signing up to the pledge, the councils say that businesses are making a positive statement that they are following the relevant guidelines to ensure their premises are Covid-secure. The pledge covers social distancing, face coverings, ventilation, vaccination, testing and isolating, employee health and well-being and risk assessments.

Nick Page, chief executive of Solihull Council, said: “The Business Pledge is a simple way for Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire authorities to help businesses reassure customers that they are doing all they can to operate in a Covid-secure way.”

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