Digbeth £200million tower block to be green icon
The Beorma Quarter will result in a largely derelict site, opposite Selfridges and St Martins, being turned into offices, workshops, shops, public squares, apartments and the restoration of three historic buildings, including the Cold Store. Six bore holes will draw water from ancient wells 100 metres below the city centre to offer cheap heating and air conditioning for the development.
Rooftop gardens, a combined heat and power generator and other energy-saving measures will result in the complex generating more than 25 per cent less carbon emissions than any similar development.
City council planning committee chairman Peter Douglas Osborn hailed the proposals as marking a ‘paradigm shift for development in the city’.
The state-of-the-art Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage system, only the second in the UK, uses a pendulum effect to draw heat from buildings down to the water in summer months and drawing the warm water back in cooler months.
The development’s controversial 27- storey office block, designed to reflect medieval plot lines, was also given a warm welcome by the planning committee yesterday, in stark contrast to the council’s conservation and heritage advisory panel in which it was last month described as “abominable”.
Only one member of the committee, Labour councillor Mike Sharpe (Tyburn), was critical of the design, calling it a “monstrosity more suited to Broad Street than historic Digbeth”.
Bob Beauchamp (Con, Erdington) disagreed, saying: “It is a superb design and exactly what is required there and will create a tumble effect down into Digbeth.”
Coun Ernie Hendricks (Lib Dem, Moseley and Kings Heath) added: “It is exceptional. If we take the sustainability issue then this will be benchmark for tall buildings in Birmingham. It is a building we should be proud of.”
The endorsement means that the Kuwaiti-backed Beorma Quarter is likely to receive a smooth ride through the remaining planning process. Work could begin early next year.
Director of planning and regeneration Clive Dutton urged the committee to support the proposal.
