Brindleyplace

Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street around which it is built. It was developed by the Argent Group from 1993 onwards.
In addition to shops, bars and restaurants, Brindleyplace is home to the National Sea Life Centre, Royal Bank of Scotland, Orion Media, Ikon Gallery of art and the Crescent Theatre. The site covers 17 acres of mixed-use redevelopment - the UK's largest such project. The Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line Canal separates Brindleyplace from the International Convention Centre, although there are linking bridges. The National Indoor Arena, Old Turn Junction and bars of Broad Street are nearby and it is easily accessible and within walking distance of the main bus, metro and rail routes.

History

The area occupied by Brindleyplace was, at the height of Birmingham's industrial past, the site of factories, however, by the 1970s as Britain's manufacturing went into decline, the factories closed down and the buildings lay derelict for many years.
Birmingham City Council's aim was to create an environment of water features, walkways and new office and leisure buildings, that would open out onto the adjacent canal. The scheme was assembled by the council in the 1980s. The council were also seeing success with the construction of the International Convention Centre with the Symphony Hall, and the National Indoor Arena. A development brief was drawn up, identifying the site as an area to attract people to complement the convention centre.
Initial proposals were drawn up by Merlin, who teamed with developers Shearwater. However, Merlin pulled out of the scheme and were replaced by Rosehaugh. Rosehaugh had paid £26 million for the site in 1990. Rosehaugh revised Merlin's retail-led scheme to include more office space and a residential element. By 1992, a detailed set of proposals which included retail and restaurants with a central square had been agreed. However, Rosehaugh went into receivership by the end of the year. Argent took over the scheme, paying £3 million to the receivers. Argent slightly amended the plans by separating the residential element from the rest of the scheme and commencing construction of the Water's Edge first, along with an office building.
By 1995, when Argent refinanced the scheme, the land value was back over £25 million. The Water's Edge was trading successfully and the housing element, Symphony Court, had sold all of its units. The price for the average family house in the scheme was over £200,000. Short term finance was supplied by Hypobank.

Buildings

A variety of architects were used to design the buildings in the complex to create a range of architectural styles. The masterplan was designed by Terry Farrell. Buildings One, Two, Four and Six Brindleyplace together with the Hilton Garden Inn were all built by Carillion, as was the conversion of the Ikon Gallery from a Victorian school.
All the buildings are low-rise, with the tallest being Eleven Brindleyplace completed in 2009 at, and the second-tallest is Three Brindleyplace at. Eight Brindleyplace is the third-tallest with a height of, although it has more floors than Three Brindleyplace.

Building	Architect	Usage	Completion
Central Square	Townshend Landscape Architects	Square	??
Crescent Theatre	Terry Farrell/John Chatwin	Theatre	1998
Oozells Square	Townshend Landscape Architects	Square	??
Water's Edge	Benoy	Retail	September 1994
Multi-storey car park	Benoy	Car park	??
Ikon Gallery	Levitt Bernstein	Art museum	1997
Brindleyplace Café	CZWG	Café	??
Hilton Garden Inn	Hulme Upright Weedon	Hotel	2000s
Symphony Court	Lyons Sleeman Hoare	Residential	1995
National Sea Life Centre	Foster + Partners	Aquarium	June 1996
	Roger Beale	Office	March 1997
Greenall's	John Dixon & Associates	Public house	2000s
[\|One Brindleyplace]	Anthony Peake Associates	Office	October 1995
Two Brindleyplace	Allies and Morrison	Office	June 1997
Three Brindleyplace	Demetri Porphyrios	Office	April 1998
Four Brindleyplace	Stanton Williams	Office	1999
Five Brindleyplace	Sidell Gibson Partnership	Office	1996
Six Brindleyplace	Allies and Morrison	Office and retail	2000
Seven Brindleyplace	Porphyrios Associates	Office	2004
Eight Brindleyplace	Sidell Gibson Partnership	Office	2002
Nine Brindleyplace	Associated Architects	Office	1999
Ten Brindleyplace	Sidell Gibson Partnership	Office	2004
Eleven Brindleyplace	Glenn Howells Architects	Office	2009

Office buildings

One Brindleyplace

is a six-storey office building fronting onto central square and is occupied by Deutsche Bank, GVA Grimley and Savills. It provides of office space and 134 car parking spaces. It was the only new office building to be completed in Birmingham in 1995. In 2013, Deutsche Bank extended its lease for another 15 years. The headquarters of the Birmingham Organising Committee of the 2022 Commonwealth Games are also located in One Brindleyplace and has taken up the, five-floor office until December 2022.

Two Brindleyplace

Two Brindleyplace is a six-storey office building with of office space. It is built of Marshalls clay brick. The brickwork is a free-standing Flemish bond. By utilising a outer leaf it was possible to carry, wind loads between floors and tie the brickwork laterally to the floor plates only. More than 1,000 Lloyds Banking Group employees work in the building. The departments based at Brindleyplace include the International Department and Concerns. The top floor houses a large canteen area with seating for around 150 staff.

Three Brindleyplace

is occupied by Avison Young, Towers Watson and . It has a full-height glazed atrium which consists of a light post-and-spandrel structure. There are three passenger lifts and 23 on-site car parking spaces. Construction commenced in 1996 and was completed in April 1998.

Four Brindleyplace

Four Brindleyplace consists of of office space with a bank, restaurant and bar on the ground floor. Caffe Nero Deloitte & Touche, Michael Page, Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Perceptive Informatics are all tenants in the building. The services engineers were Hoare Lea & Partners, whilst Silk & Frazier were the quantity surveyors. It was the winner of the "Best of Best" award. It received top accolades in the British Council for Offices Awards 2000 and finalist status in the 2004 Brickwork Awards.

Five Brindleyplace

Five Brindleyplace was pre-let to BT in 1994 with design work starting in December of the same year. Construction began in June 1995. BT moved into the offices in February 1997 and used it as their regional headquarters. It provides of office space. The construction used the curtain walling system. Argent worked with BT to provide 'green' features such as an upflow air conditioning system with heat recovery, openable windows and energy saving lighting and controls. BT vacated the building at the beginning of 2011. After a £8m makeover, Deutsche Bank leased the majority of the building from 2014. PLACES Birmingham Residential Lettings and Sales agent occupy the central ground floor office space.

Six Brindleyplace

Six Brindleyplace provides of office space as well as offering to retail units that look over Oozells Square. The Thai Edge, which is one of these restaurants, opened in 2000. Whilst the concept architect was Allies and Morrison, the production architect was Weedon Partnership. Curtains Consulting Engineers were the structural engineers. It cost £12.3 million. It houses Birmingham Ceremonies, a production management company appointed by the 2022 Commonwealth Games to produce and deliver the Games' Opening and Closing Ceremonies. It a joint venture by GBA and Done and Dusted.

Seven Brindleyplace

Seven Brindleyplace provides of office space. Construction commenced in 2002 and lasted two years. The building has a concrete frame with external walls in self-supporting brick construction with ashlar stone rustication and stone dressings. The windows are detailed in metal, as is the top storey and terminated cornice.

Eight Brindleyplace

Construction began on Eight Brindleyplace in July 2000. It provides of office space, situated below 35 fully serviced apartments, in addition to ground-floor retail and restaurant units. The 14-storey structure is split into nine floors of office space and five floors of residential apartments. Glamalco installed a variety of Kawneer's precision-engineered curtain walling and window products throughout the building in a partnering contract with Argent valued at approximately £1.1 million.

Nine Brindleyplace

Nine Brindleyplace consists of of restaurant space, of office space and 60 parking spaces. It looks over Broad Street. It is the location of Number Nine the Gallery, a modern and fine art gallery established in 1999 by Lee Benson. It is also home to Unity Trust Bank, Orion Media including the studios of three radio stations, Free Radio Birmingham, Free Radio 80s and Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire and Coast to Coast and Bar on the ground floor.