The plans for Digbeth’s Beorma Quarter have been released today. The largest of the office buildings is to be 27 storeys, at 107m in height.
Application number is C/00295/09/FUL (click here and enter the number manually).
Here is a snip:
Date application received
23/01/2009Date application registered
23/01/2009Status
Under ConsultationLocation
123-143 Digbeth, 3-5 Park Street, 81-93 Alison Street, and adjoining land, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 6DRProposal
Mixed use development comprising refurbishment of the Digbeth Coldstore building, 135-136 and 137 Digbeth, façade of 138 and 139 Digbeth and construction of three new blocks including a 27 storey tower to provide shops, offices, restaurant and cafe (A1, A2 and A3), business space (B1), residential (C3) and exhibition space (D1), together with an energy centre using an aquifer thermal energy storage system (ATES), basement parking and creation of new landscape areas.
Report of the Chairman of the Planning Committee to Council
Digbeth Coldstore – a planning application is expected early this year for a mixed use development in Digbeth, comprising the refurbishment of buildings and their facades, including the Digbeth Coldstore, and a 27 storey tower to provide shops, professional services, restaurant/café, business space, residential and exhibition centre. The scheme also proposes a new energy centre utilising an Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) system, basement parking and creation of new landscaping areas. Subject to all the necessary consents being agreed, work could start later in the year.
Of interest is the rescued JFK memorial that was situated near to St Chad’s cathedral will be situated near to the car park.
Here are some rendered images,
Shadow study, anyone? Sightlines? And, given the calls for better pedestrian movement past the Cold Storage, what effect would this particular design have on opening, or further constricting, both pedestrian and vehicular traffic?
The prospect of a parking garage within the Moat Lane circular makes me want to see a complete rethink of that street layout. No new build without solving the congestion issues.
That is fucking huge.
If you want to know how big, Alpha Tower (white tower by the library, on Broad Street opposite Centenary Square) is 100m, BT Tower is 151m in height.
On an international scale Birmingham’s buildings are tiny. 150m or higher is usually classed as a skyscraper. Most cities the size of Birmingham have 300-400m buildings. We still have some way to go, just we have the Civil Aviation Authority and central government to blame.
Next to Alpha Tower a 245m high tower called Arena Tower was given full planning permission, until the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and CAA stopped it. 144m tall V Tower will now sit in its place.
Oh, this is the tallest office building.
We have BT tower at 151m, then Holloway Circus Tower at 132m.
[...] Digbeth getting Birmingham’s tallest building [...]
I have to say, boys, this preoccupation with comparing sizes is reaching dangerously pathological proportions in the 21st century
(I wouldn’t resort to gender stereotyping if geezers didn’t conform to them so consistently). “We still have some way to go”? To what? Full spectrum cock domination? More offices so more human beings can be processed into rationalised lifeless drones? So what if other cities are doing it? Do we want to replicate or innovate? This is supposed to be a creative city, so why don’t we make creative use of what’s already there? Digbeth has wonderful buildings, many of them empty and with the potential to be transformed into the kind of work environment where people feel uplifted, not dead and dehumanised.
And it’s a fucking ugly monster. The best thing on the Birmingham skyline is the Rotunda, because it’s different to all the rest. It has feminine curves and it stands out amongst the clutter of identikit cock-boxes that are gradually trying to dwarf it. Please can someone design a building that’s even a weensy bit strange? What better way to promote our creativity than having a skyline composed of weirdness?!
Strange buildings, like the Cube, Magistrates’ Court, V Tower or Selfridges. Perhaps I dare say, the library. Humm, check! We do them.
Birmingham isn’t really a creative city, it is no more creative than any other. Birmingham is based on manufacture, innovation, research and design. We do have a large law centre, with a medium sized financial quarter.
Most offices need to be box shaped. If you are paying rent on a building that is £30 per square foot, you need every single inch. It’s why the Rotunda failed as an office building, Alpha Tower is mostly let to the council. They are listed, but not fit for purpose as office buildings.
I’m afraid you wont see any whacky shaped offices, they will be boxy.
I dunno about the Cube and V Tower, but you’re on the right track with the Magistrates Court and Selfridges. I wasn’t saying there were no other interesting buildings, just that we shouldn’t overpower the ones we’ve got with big soulless masculine inadequacies.
Birmingham might not be a creative city in *your* perception, because *you* mix with a load of dreary suits, but in *my* perception it’s the most magical place on earth. Join me, I will help you.
[...] word that caught my eye when the list popped up, so I’ll run with it. They’re planning to build a giant rectangular power-cock tower-block rubbing right up against Selfridges’ sparkly boobs, and it pisses me right [...]
This proposed development is a monstrous mistake and a hideous blight on an historic, if rough around the edges quarter. Expensive office space and more chain shops (right next to a massive shopping centre) are not particularly innovative solutions to improving digbeth. The tower is enormous and unspeakably ugly. A building as badly conceived and innapropriate for the area as this would not be built in any other Victorian city. We are seeing the mistakes of the past repeated. Why dont we just flatten the Council House, the Town Hall, the Jewelery Quarter and build loads of mixed use (shops and offices) skyscrapers? This cannot happen!
[...] Eastside blog has some handy impressions of the size of the [...]
I have no problems with new exotic or extravagant buildings in the right place and context. However the Council’s fascination with high rise buildings to provide them with a marketable skyline for international investors is getting out of hand. It’s far too big! The historic area of Digbeth is a conservation area and is based on its relationship with the St. Martin’s church, visble from most parts of Digbeth / Deritend. The scale and massing of this new tower mean that from many parts of Digbeth, including from the rail journey into Moor Street you will no longer be able to see the church, or last year’s poster building Selfridges. It is a rough and ready part of the city that provides one of the few areas where innovative and small businesses can afford to rent property. This is evident from the burgeoning creative industries in the area. This type of development could have a catastrophic impact on rents, land values and the viability of the small businesses in the area. Anybody with comments can lodge them with the planning department on their website.
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=67548&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=12189
Buildings like this are often the start of something big, maybe this part of the country will grow in comparison to London. Hopefully it wont be an expensive flop as it looks fantastic!