Best Regional UK City for Businesses Seeking Virtual offices

It's no surprise that more businesses choose Birmingham virtual offices over any other location in the UK outside of London. Known as the UK's second city, Birmingham is a major landmark with a central location that provides easy and efficient access to many regions around the country, by road, rail or air.

There is a high concentration of financial and law services in Birmingham, with many research and development facilities which are helping to shape future investment in the city, such as the high-spec Aston Science Park and the University of Birmingham’s Research Park.

However the Northern counties are also enjoying sustained interest - both the North West, represented by Manchester virtual offices, and Yorkshire and Humberside's prime virtual office location of Leeds are featured in the top three most popular virtual office locations.

A massive number of businesses now choose Manchester as their prime location, backed up by the city's high level of virtual office enquiries. In addition, according to the 2008 UK Cities Monitor by Cushman & Wakefield, the report finds that:

"Manchester in particular performs well with executives ranking the city as their preferred choice as both a new headquarters location and as a new back office function. It is also ranked first as the city doing the most to improve itself and the city doing the most to promote itself."

The city's excellent transport links add to the list of business factors. The M62 and M6 offer prime routes from east to west and north to south, while the location of Manchester provides a convenient spot for reaching other major cities including Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.

In fact, Cushman & Wakefield's report highlights that "Easy access to markets, customers or clients" is considered the most important factor by 50% of respondents - a requirement that is well catered for by Manchester, as well as many cities within the virtual office top ten.

1. Overall our virtual office figures show that, while London is still the prime spot for businesses searching for a virtual office, there are many other alternatives in the UK that can offer high spec business services. Additionally, we've found that the most popular spots are not based in the South alongside the capital - but instead are located in more northern regions, including the Midlands, the North-West and Yorkshire and Humberside.

2. Adrian Hill, head of business space at Cushman & Wakefield, said in their UK Cities Monitor:

3. "Many UK cities have seen a renaissance over the last few years with major regeneration projects delivering world class business and leisure environments. This investment, along with commitment from visionary councils, has helped to encourage major corporations to look outside of London when deciding where to locate their business."

4. If you're a business considering or searching for virtual offices in the UK, visit virtualofficeworld.com and speak to one of our office space consultants for free expert advice.