BIRMINGHAM’S tallest skyscraper could be built in three years afer the developer secured planning permission.

City planning chiefs gave the 56-storey landmark Regal Tower their unanimous support – hailing it as a massive show of confidence in Birmingham.

At almost 630ft, it will rise above Birmingham’s current highest structure, the BT Tower, and will be taller than the proposed 51-storey V-Building, set to be constructed further along Broad Street at the Arena Central site.

The tower, at the junction of Broad Street and Sheepcote Street, is to include a hotel, serviced apartments and street level shops. And fears the application might be speculative were dimissed by a spokesman for developer Regal Property Group Ltd.

Peter Weatherhead, of planning agents DTZ, said: “This meets with Birmingham’s ambitions to be a world class city and will be a landmark building on a gateway site.

“This is not a speculative scheme. There are tenants lined up and we are ready to get on with construction.”

He said it would take three years to build, creating 300 construction jobs and once complete 400 permanent jobs.

The planning committee heard objections from King Edward’s Wharf Residents’ Association, whose members claimed the hotel would bring more traffic and gridlock to the area.

Spokesman Alan Stedall said: “This is being built opposite another 40-storey tower at a traffic blackspot junction.

“I have asked the managers of five hotels and they say the vast majority of customers arrive by car or taxi.”

Transport officers said they had compared details of traffic flows at the Hilton in Manchester and the Radisson at Holloway Head and found the hotel would make little impact on Broad Street’s traffic levels.