Investment banking firm Cavendish is expanding outside London with 2 new offices in Birmingham (at Five St Philips) and Manchester (No.1 St Michael’s), helped by property consultancy OBI and flex space operator Gilbanks.

The Gilbanks workspace at Five St Philips is opening in September 2025,and spans 22,000 sqft across two floors. While Manchester’s No.1 St Michael’s is also set to be the city’s first fully Net Zero Carbon commercial development both in construction and operation.

Birmingham-based Frontier Development Capital (FDC) has sealed a multi-million-pound funding deal to back workspace provider Gilbanks’ expansion plans across the UK.

Gilbanks, headquartered in Leeds with operations in Manchester, is already establishing a 22k sqft workspace at Five St Philips in Birmingham and specializes in sustainable, service-led office spaces. The investment comes as businesses increasingly seek experience-driven workspaces, with Gilbanks’ managing director Alex Duckett noting that the funding will enable the company to expand into suitable sites with forward-thinking landlords and top-tier amenities.

Paul Thomas shares some interesting shifts highlighted by recent CoStar data. We see a big move from the established brands to newer, high-end operators who are winning more and more deals.

For 2018 to 2022, flex leasing was going to Spaces (25%), WeWork (19%), Regus (16%), Instant Offices (13%), Orega (11%), X+Why (7%), Pure Offices (5%) and Gilbanks (4%).

Fast forward to 2023 and 2024: Cubo (33%), Orega (13%), IWG (13%), 2-Work (9%), Runway East (9%), Re-Defined (8%), Gilbanks (8%) and Wizu Workspace (7%).