Beorma Quarter models

Click photos for full size.

Digbeth Regeneration Plans Submitted

News in from Planning Resource (requires a paid subscription but I have it in full) that Beorma Quarter has been submitted for planning.

Michael Donnelly, PlanningResource, 10 February 2009

Plans have been submitted for the £180m redevelopment of Birmingham’s Digbeth area.
Kuwaiti based Salhia Investments plans to build a 27-storey office tower, shops, cafes and housing.

The Beorma Quarter is a 57,000 square metre development designed by international architect Trevor Horne of Trevor Horne Associates and opens up the largely disused 1.77-acre site with new public access and open space.

Alastair Grills Associates submitted the application on behalf of Salhia and subject to approval; work is expected to start by the end of 2009 and to be completed in three stages by 2012.

Salhia representative Keith Williams said: “This fully-funded scheme will be a much-needed boost for development in Birmingham. We’re really excited at the prospect of delivering this forward looking proposal that celebrates the unique heritage of the historic heart of the city.

“Alongside this, we will create jobs for the construction industry and when completed will provide headquarters for blue-chip companies as well as helping start-up businesses with the opportunity to develop and grow.”

Thank you Simon Felton for the tip.

Planned Birmingham tower block near Bullring slammed as ‘abominable’

I caught this over at BiNS regarding Beorma Tower, this should explain:

“It’s abominable. It’s like a punch in the face by an architectural fist. It has no relation to place or location, it is out of scale with the buildings around it. It’s like something from Alice in Wonderland, a place where the normal rules don’t apply.”

After reading the original post at the Birmingham Mail, the people who seem to be complaining are those who hate any new building above 4 storeys anyway.

Only problem I find with this tower is it screams Manchester – huge dull glass boxes which seem to win lots of awards.

Digbeth to get Birmingham’s tallest office building

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
23/01/2009

Date application registered
23/01/2009

Status
Under Consultation

Location
123-143 Digbeth, 3-5 Park Street, 81-93 Alison Street, and adjoining land, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 6DR

Proposal
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,

Beorma Quarter, I love it.

Well, I have been thinking of this midrise development for quite a few days, and I have to say I love it.  We covered it the other day with a post from SkyscraperNews, today we can have one from Birmingham Post.

So, what does it remind me of…

Tate Modern Extension:

Maybe a bit of CJC in Manchester:

Oh no, how could I forget this, Tate Tower that was once proposed to be next to Millennium Point:

Beorma Tower Gets The Horne

SkyscraperNews writes:

“The designs for an ashamedly blocky 30 floor tower by Trevor Horne Architects could be the next tall building proposal for Birmingham.

The scheme by Sahlia Investments occupies a 0.77 hectare site between Digbeth, Well Lane, Park Street and Allison Street literally over the road from the famously organic Selfridges store that has put Birmingham on the map of modern architecture.

If built it will contain offices, a hotel and basement parking in a new urban quarter that will ring a revamped public area at Orwell Place.

The architects claim their scheme was inspired by the Satellite City Towers of Pritzker Prize winning architect, Luis Barragán although the complex geometric form of the scheme and the airy glass cladding certainly flies in the face of Barragán’s soaring forms and strong use of Mexican colours.

The blockiness is designed as a deliberate visual counterpoint to the curvaceousness of Selfridges although it rejects a traditional straight up tower shape for something with slipped elements and projecting sections that are suspended in mid-air out creating a more complicated form.

At ground level the existing site is a challenging one to develop as it contains several listed buildings. The architects have come up with a solution for this that will see them retained with their facades worked into the proposals creating a variety of old and new.

Still at the pre-planning stage, the scheme is likely to be refined further before an official planning application is filed. “