Argent submits £450m Paradise Circus plan

Aaron Morby 12 years ago
Share

Developer Argent has submitted plans for the £450m redevelopment of Birmingham’s Paradise Circus.

The planning application covers 17 acres of land in the heart of Birmingham that will involve demolishing the old Central Library and 10 new buildings around a series of new squares and streets.

The ambitious Paradise Circus project has gains a further boost after Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership also approved an investment plan which will see £125m of funding unlocked by the creation of a City Centre Enterprise Zone.

The first phase of funding will include investment of £60m in the infrastructure of the Westside part of the city, around Paradise Circus.

A further £25m is earmarked for the extension of the Metro from New Street to Centenary Square and £40m to support site development and business growth activity.

Subject to planning consent being granted later this year, a detailed planning application for the first phase of the Paradise development will be submitted in late 2013/early 2014.

The redevelopment proposal is based on the Birmingham Conservatoire moving a short distance to Louisa Ryland House on Edmund Street, with a new minimum 450 seat concert hall to replace the existing Adrian Boult Hall being created.

In total, the planning application comprises a gross internal area of circa 1.8m sq ft, making it one of the UK’s largest city centre planning applications submitted this year.

The redevelopment of Paradise Circus will create a series of new linked pedestrian streets and squares and provide a traffic free setting for the Grade I Listed Town Hall.

Council Leader Sir Albert Bore believes the plans would have an enormously positive impact on the city: “Paradise Circus is key to Birmingham’s new Enterprise Zone and the delivery of the Big City Plan.

“It is a huge opportunity for the City to capitalise on projects such as New Street Gateway and the Library of Birmingham by creating a location for major inward investment in a high quality environment second to none in the UK.”

Argent’s Senior Project Director Rob Groves said: “Our proposals incorporate up to 1.4 million net sq ft of office space in up to ten new buildings which could ultimately accommodate up to 12,000 people.

“The creation of a pipeline of new business space in the medium term is vital to the economic well-being of the City, its ability to attract new businesses to the region and to allow indigenous businesses to expand and grow.”

Significant improvements to the road layout through and around the site are also proposed.

Architects and master planners Glenn Howells Architects have been working on the proposals for several years.

Glenn Howells said: “I believe we have produced a masterplan that successfully combines a contemporary and sustainable approach to design alongside the need to work sympathetically with the magnificent, historic civic buildings that lie adjacent to the site.

“This proposal puts people and the environment first by providing traffic-free roads and squares along with attractive vistas to encourage visitors and allow residents and workers the opportunity to stop and relax in an attractive but vibrant setting.”

The professional team responsible for delivering the planning application includes planning consultants Drivers Jonas Deloitte, architects and master planners Glenn Howells Architects, transport planners Peter Brett Associates, consulting engineers Arup, quantity surveyors Faithful & Gould, heritage consultants Alan Baxter Associates, environmental planning and design consultancy The Environmental Dimension Partnership and Townshend Landscape Architects.

Latest project news

Galliford Try to upgrade Red Arrows base

Contractor seals quartet of RAF base upgrades
11 months ago

Galliford Try bags £87m Brent Cross build to rent job

Firm picks up another three blocks at Argent's North London £8bn regeneration scheme
1 year ago

Balfour starts £67m Edinburgh school campus

Passivhaus certified campus buildings will replace Liberton High School
1 year ago

Red wins Bristol retirement village £14m expansion

44 extra care flats to be built at former Frys chocolate factory
1 year ago

Caddick bags UK’s largest fertiliser plant job

Yorkshire contractor seals £28m contract for new plant in Yorkshire
1 year ago

Mace wins concrete bunkers for world’s most powerful laser

Firm will build two 7m tall bunkers with 2m thick radiation resistant concrete walls
1 year ago

Robertson to deliver £20m Alloa Wellbeing Hub and school

Design work will now start on Wellbeing Hub and Lochies primary school
1 year ago

Green light for Canada Water next phase of 380 homes

Zone G plan includes major resi tower, supermarket and park
1 year ago

Mace to start £230m Landsec London office job

Timber Square project will pioneer a hybrid cross laminate timber and steel superstructure
1 year ago

British Land multi-storey logistics hub approved

London urban last-mile logistics hub pipeline hits £1.3bn
1 year ago

£350m Birmingham triple tower scheme approved

Vast curving Ringway Centre to be demolished for 1,750 flats development
1 year ago

Midgard lands £245m Tottenham Hale towers

Three towers of up to 38 storeys complete north London regeneration scheme
1 year ago

Go-ahead for Wates £35m Hartlepool leisure centre job

Work on the Highlight waterfront centre to start in November
1 year ago

Green light for 690-home Birmingham Smithfield scheme

Prosperity Group plans to start work in Autumn next year on major Smithfield scheme
1 year ago

Go-ahead for 289 homes next to Saltaire World Heritage site

Ambitious plan to demolish a vacant Bradford office complex for new residential quarter
1 year ago

Plans in for 800-bed Leeds student and retail scheme

Major scheme will replace The Core shopping centre in the city
1 year ago

McAleer & Rushe awarded £60m Barking flats job

Work to start in November on near 200 rental homes project
1 year ago

ISG clinches £155m Cat D prison expansion

Firm to deliver 780 new places at three existing prison locations
1 year ago

27-storey Salford student tower approved

540-bed student block to be built on former site of McDonalds' regional HQ
1 year ago

Morgan Sindall £48m Dumfries school job approved

Building work to start before the end of 2023
1 year ago

Bouygues/Murphy JV tipped for £2.3bn Thames tunnel job

Frontrunner emerges for Lower Thames Crossing 4.2km tunnel job
1 year ago

Vinci/McAlpine JV to start £105m NHS rehabilitation centre

Treasury clears New Hospital Programme job to start main construction
1 year ago

Three giant lab buildings approved at £700m Oxford R&D district

Phase 2 Oxford North office and lab buildings to deliver 460,000 sq ft of space
1 year ago

RG Group to build tallest student block in the world

Contractor confirmed on 45-storey tower in Leeds
1 year ago

Vinci wins major St Helens town centre revamp

£90m first phase includes new market hall, 120-bed hotel and over 60 flats
1 year ago

Work to start this year on Manchester £250m spa resort

Developer Therme gets green light for re-engineered 28-acre Trafford complex
1 year ago

Barhale JV sign-off for £18m Dewsbury sewage works upgrade

Project forms part of Yorkshire Water’s £500m investment in Phosphorous removal
1 year ago

Murphy seals main build on £124m Essex station

Contractor lands main contract after successful start on enabling works package
1 year ago

GMI lands latest £42m phase of lab cluster

Citylabs life sciences complex in Manchester continues to grow
1 year ago

Green light for Canada Water commercial scheme

Twin-tower scheme will offer "a new type of office for London"
1 year ago

Contractor services