Plans lodged for latest Birmingham tower
1/8/23
Downsized proposals for a ground-floor-plus-32-storeys build-to-rent residential tower in central Birmingham have been lodged by Howells.
Designs by the recently rebranded practice, formerly known as Glenn Howells Architects, slash the height of a previously consented scheme for 100 Broad Street by almost half.
Glancy Nicholls' 61-storey scheme was designed for Euro Property Investments and approved in 2020. However, the 503-home scheme is understood to have become unviable and the site was sold to current owner Urban Vision.
Urban Vision says the 294-home Howells proposals will be all-electric and "among the most environmentally and socially conscious developments in Birmingham".
Howells director Robert King said the scheme for the site – currently occupied by a five-storey office building – had "challenged" the practice to "look again and question" the blueprint for efficient tall-building designs.
"100 Broad Street pays reference to Birmingham's architectural modernist past while looking to the future to create a building that is more Birmingham, less anywhere," he said.
The tower will be on the opposite side of Broad Street from Howells' recently-completed 42-storey The Mercian build-to-rent development for Moda Living.
The site is less than a mile from Howells' Brick House homes at Icknield Port Loop, which won a RIBA National Award last week.