Situation

Birmingham Business Park is set in 148 acres of mature parkland. It is home to over 150 companies and around 10,000 people normally work there each weekday. The Park is managed by Workman LLP.

Four years ago, Workman launched an occupier engagement programme. This was led by the Park Development Manager, Liz Allister, inspired by the amount of green space and lakes available for people to enjoy. The Park’s strapline – Invested in You – is at the core of the offer.

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Invested in You occupier engagement programme

There are normally events on the Park every weekday, giving occupiers the chance to enjoy activities over a lunchtime or after work. Regular weekly activities include yoga, pilates and mindfulness for wellbeing, along with food events such as Foodie Fridays and Meat Free Mondays. Other opportunities include mini massages, beauty therapy and art workshops. Twice a year, the Park hosts dedicated sustainability weeks, offering free activities such as pond dipping and biodiversity walks. Occupiers can also take part in ‘meet the beekeeper’ sessions, where they spend time with the person who cares for the Park’s two beehives. These produce around 60 jars of honey annually, with all proceeds donated to the Park’s charity of the year, currently Age UK Solihull.

The Park is also home to a community cycling club, which leads twice weekly bike rides during spring and summer for all levels of cyclists, along with free bike maintenance service twice a year for occupiers. Other cycling events on the Park include race days, which attract hundreds of cyclists, from novices through to national standard riders. All the funds from this year’s races, which the team is hoping to run later in the year, will go to Age UK Solihull, which is providing important support to elderly local residents, including food supplies and telephone befriending.

Other popular events for occupiers on the Park include big screenings of Wimbledon and an annual movie event, where occupiers can enjoy free ice creams or other refreshments. Up to 2,500 people attend Wimbledon screenings each weekday, with up to 1,000 people at a time watching the tennis and connecting with colleagues. Amenities include outdoor table tennis tables, giant Jenga and Connect Four games, shared bikes, deckchairs and six allotment beds. The community allotment club includes occupiers Arval and Canon, and charity partner Age UK Solihull.

Fast community response

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, the Park team and suppliers acted quickly to move activities online, including weekly yoga workshops, mindfulness sessions and regular Tai Chi classes. They also stepped up communications, so that occupiers continue to feel supported and engaged. This included a special digital edition of the Park magazine in May 2020, sharing the COVID-19 response by Birmingham Business Park occupiers.

In addition, the Park team re-routed support for their annual charity partner, Age UK Solihull, encouraging occupiers to provide fundraising and volunteering support, along with food donations. Over 180 chocolate eggs were donated in the run up to Easter. Lorraine Hart of Age UK Solihull commented: “Times are challenging to say the least at the moment, particularly for the elderly and vulnerable, so to give them a little cheer at Easter and for them to know that people are thinking of them, is absolutely wonderful.” The team is hoping to reschedule several postponed fundraising events for later in the year.

Financial

The events programme and facilities are funded through the Park’s marketing budget. Many of the events are free or low cost to run, such as food events that offer local suppliers the chance to reach a new market. The highest cost items are the big screenings as the screen needs to be hired and complimentary food funded.

Benefits

• Promoting occupier health and wellbeing.
• Helping occupiers attract and engage talent.
• Contributing to 96.5% occupancy rate, the Park’s highest for 20 years.
• Enhancing occupier satisfaction, as demonstrated by high retention rate at lease events, and by positive occupier feedback, for example:
  • “I genuinely believe the Business Park staff care about the companies who work here. They offer a great array of activities and they are always trying to make life on the Park the best it can be! I really enjoy working on Birmingham Business Park. Their programme of wellbeing events is fantastic.”
     
  • “There is a sense of community within the Park, which is great to be a part of and we appreciate the various opportunities to network with fellow occupiers.”
     
  • “We would like to compliment Birmingham Business Park on the great events and facilities provided. My colleagues and I enjoy attending the events and the communal park area, making lunchtimes in the summer very pleasant.”
     
• Raising awareness of social and environmental issues in the wider community.

External recognition includes:

Gold Green Apple Award 2019 – for bi-annual Sustainability Weeks

Silver CSR-Accreditation 2019 – for social responsibility work, including annual charity of the year partnership

Gold Green Apple Award 2018 – for Community Cycling Club