Being a property partner at Victoria Square House

When the landmark building, Victoria Square House, hit the market for more than £25 million back in November 2025, being chosen as the property partner to inspect the building structural and fabric is something that reminds me why this work matters.

As the surveyor leading the structural and fabric inspection on behalf of PMP, it was exactly the kind of instruction that drives me.

Inspecting this historic building, which was the former City Centre Post Office, with its wealth of historical and cultural significance, dating back to the late 19th century, may have its challenges, but it is as rewarding from a professional perspective.

The building comprises more than 150,000 sq ft over six floors, with large, flexible floorplates of 23,000 to 27,000 sq ft wrapped around a central courtyard.

Victoria Square House is a building with real presence. Stretching from Birmingham’s main civic square all the way through to the city’s central railway station, it is described by CBRE as “one of the most exciting investment opportunities around Birmingham’s city core.”

The building is one of Birmingham’s growth success story, and being a part of the city’s development and a multi-million pound transaction is where PMP plays its role.

For an investor making a significant commitment, understanding the physical condition of an asset like this, its structure, its fabric, its long-term liabilities, is not a box-ticking exercise. It is fundamental to the transaction.

A Collaborative Approach to Due Diligence

Working alongside Michael Gribben and the team at Xburo UK Ltd, who led the mechanical and electrical engineering assessment, our approach was collaborative as standard.

My focus was the building structure and fabric: examining the envelope, assessing the condition of key structural elements, understanding maintenance history and identifying where investment will be needed.

The findings from that work, brought together with Xburo’s M&E analysis, gave the new owners Longstock Capital a clear, evidence-based picture of what they were acquiring, and the confidence to proceed.

This acquisition is Longstock Capital’s third major UK office purchase in just five months, and that pace of activity is telling. Birmingham is a market where investor confidence is tangible right now. The combination of strong occupier demand, continued infrastructure investment, and a maturing city-centre office offer is attracting serious capital, and Victoria Square House, with its connectivity and prominence, is precisely the kind of asset that reflects that appetite.

From where we sit at PMP, we are seeing this buoyancy play out across our instruction pipeline. Demand for rigorous, independent Technical Due Diligence has grown in step with acquisitions.

As assets change hands at scale, the need for trusted, expert assessment of physical condition has never been more important. Investors are asking harder questions, and they deserve well-evidenced answers.

The Value of a Trusted Property Partner

PMP’s role on deals like this is about more than producing a report. It is about being a reliable partner at a critical point in a transaction; one whose findings can be stood behind, whose methodology is robust, and whose advice is genuinely useful to the decision being made. Being instructed by a client of Longstock Capital’s calibre on an asset of this significance is a source of great pride, and to see the acquisition complete with PMP now part of the legacy of this historic building makes it all the more meaningful.

Congratulations to Longstock Capital and to everyone involved in bringing this deal to completion. Here’s to many more.

Ben Walker is an Executive Director and Building Surveyor at PMP Building Consultancy, based in the Manchester office. PMP provides building surveying, project management, cost management, technical due diligence, and many other building services across the UK as a trusted property partner.