Record city centre rents for refurbished city core office space have been achieved twice in as many months at 9 Colmore Row, Birmingham.

This extensivelyrefurbished building at the heart of the traditional city core set a new benchmark in headline rents for refurbished space with the letting to NAI Fuller Peiser in January at £26 per sq ft.

A similar undisclosed rent was achieved this month with a further letting of 4,000sq ft to Swiss-based Capital Dynamics on the ninth floor.

The continued lack of prime grade A office space is cited as the reason behind the increase in rents as the gap between refurbished space and new developments narrows.

The headline rents for brand new prime office space have been static for the last few years at £27.50 per sq ft due to the lack of new buildings coming on to the market.

That will change when - as is confidently predicted - the £30 per sq ft barrier is broken later this year as a number of new-builds reach completion.

Joint agents GBR and DTZ negotiated the Colmore Row lettings on behalf of Britannic Asset Management, which owns the building.

Ben Thacker, GBR and Matt Long, DTZ, agree that the striking building next to Snow Hill Station and Midland Metro Station sets a new b enchmark after its £9 million revamp.

"The driver behind these record rental levels is the lack of new grade A office space in the city core which has necessitated an improvement in the standard of refurbishment programmes to existing space," they say.

"Following what is best described as a full internal redevelopment, 9 Colmore Row has a new benchmark for this type of product.

"Incorporating a high-profile reception area fronting Colmore Row and high-specification finishes, the building offers a high quality working environment in an unbeatable location.

"This fact has been recognised by the marketplace and is responsible for the record rental levels and quality of the lettings which have been secured."

Angela Willetts, IM manager of Capital Dynamics - Europe's largest independent asset manager exclusively focused on private equity - says: "Our move to high-profile offices at the heart of Birmingham's business district is a key marker in the life of our business and as part of our extensive growth plans, we felt it was vital to be located in the city core.

"The location of the building alongside the quality of the immediate working environment and local facilities sit well with our corporate identity.

"These principal reasons, which we feel will enable our staff to offer an enhanced service to our clients, were behind our decision to locate our business at 9 Colmore Row."

The 66,301 sq ft of grade A space is split into open floor-plates of 8,837 sq ft, with 65 secure on-site car parking spaces. More than 51,500 sq ft of space remains on the market.