The Birmingham Post Business Awards is back and bigger than ever. Sponsor JLL explains why it is sponsoring the Company of the Year Award

Birmingham is experiencing one of the most exciting and pivotal times in its history. With so much investment currently happening and planned in the city, the spotlight is on.

The next steps we take are crucial as the market starts to heat up with organisations increasingly looking at Birmingham as a place to do business.

The real game-changer was the announcement that HS2 was locating its new construction HQ at Two Snowhill.

Overnight the city literally went right up the priority lists of investors, developers and corporates – reflected at JLL with markedly increased enquiry rates – as 100,000 sq ft of prime space was taken out of a dwindling Grade A office supply.

Unique Insight

For JLL, as a global real estate advisor in daily dialogue with major league funds and investors including Aviva, LIM and Legal & General we immediately understood the impact it would have on the market.

Our regional chairman, Jan Thompson advised Deutsche Bank and played a central role in one of the most significant relocations to the city in recent times.

It was Birmingham's biggest ever Foreign Direct Investment, creating 1000 new jobs and helping to sell the message why the UK's top regional city should be first on corporate's lists for locating a new base here.

Of course to be able to advise and add value to our clients' businesses, we have to know what it is to run a successful organisation ourselves both at a local, regional and global level. JLL employs more than 40,000 people in more than 1,000 locations in 70 countries.

We reported record fee revenue for the second quarter of this year with earnings per share up 46% over the three-month period.

Global fee revenue reached a second-quarter high of 1,086m dollars (£645m), up 18 per cent on the 908m dollars (£540m) for the same period last year.

In Birmingham and the Midlands, we've also been gaining market share.

This year we've set up a new real estate workout team and we're leading the field in capital markets, valuations, building consultancy and industrial, which has advised on 2.5 million square feet of transactions in the region over the past 12 months.

We've also recently acted on behalf of Hydra Force Hydraulics Ltd, which has taken 120,000 sq ft the city's Advanced Manufacturing Hub in Aston.

The planning teams are busier than ever as we assist developers take schemes forward and assess the viability of opportunities.

Our insight and integrated approach drawing from a broad base of skills enables a joined up approach with unsurpassed market knowledge.

Working in Partnerships

Also key to our success in Birmingham is the close links we've forged over the past 20 years with many key organisations such as the CBI, Business Birmingham and most recently Baverstock Community College.

By sharing our knowledge we can help play our part in getting the right building blocks in place to deliver a city and region which is right for growth.

That's why we're partnering with Birmingham City Council to sell the city's message at next year's MIPIM and later this month we're working with leading young professionals in the city, hosting an event with Birmingham Future and Andy Street from Birmingham's LEP.

So essentially our business is beyond property and all about nderstanding business, assisting organisations both private and public to develop and grow, work more effectively and become more profitable.

And clearly that's why ‘The Company of the Year' category seemed such a natural choice for JLL to support.

Our future as indeed every company's future in the region relies on attracting and maintaining a rich source of knowledge, skills and creativity to ensure a prosperous and sustainable economy.

Promoting the Best of Birmingham

There's so many potential contenders for the title of Company of the Year in a city that offers such rich seam of business strength, it's going to be a tough category to judge.

We wish each and every company good luck and will be extremely proud to be celebrating  the best of Birmingham on the night.