Masshouse
Masshouse is a development site in the Eastside area of Birmingham, England. Its name derives from a Roman Catholic Church built in 1687. Buildings were cleared to make way for the inner city ring road and car parking in the 1960s. Birmingham City Council wished to expand the city centre eastwards and an elevated road junction, Masshouse Circus was demolished in 2002 to facilitate redevelopment.
History
The Masshouse area was in Victorian times nothing else but Masshouse Lane, which connected to Dale End and the junction at Albert Street and Duddeston Row. The name derives from the establishment of a Roman Catholic chapel there by a Franciscan priest, Leo Randolph, in 1687, followed by a convent in March 1688. Both were burned down by a mob, instigated by the Protestant Lord Delamer, in November 1688.Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham describes the building and destruction of the "mass house":
From 1749 to 1943 it was the site of St Bartholomew’s Church, Birmingham.
Clearance of the area began in 1961 to make way for the Carrs Lane to Central Fire Station section of Birmingham's inner ring road, which opened in June 1965. An elevated roundabout named Masshouse Circus was then constructed to link the A47 road to the city centre, and intersect with the ring road underpass. There were six pedestrian subways:
- New Meeting
- Henns Walk
- James Watt
- Chapel Street
- Ryder
- Hospital
A replacement road, the B4100 Moor Street Queensway, to connect the Bullring Shopping Centre with Jennens Road was completed and opened in August 2003.
Development
The initial development was planned in two phases; Phase 1 retained the Masshouse name and Phase 2 was called City Park Gate, after the new Eastside City Park laid out as part of the development.Masshouse
The planning application for Block I was submitted in October 2004. Construction cost £30 million and the 14-storey building consists of 173 studio, one and two-bedroom apartments. The first residents had moved in by February 2007. The building is clad in of pre-cast panels with a complex mixture of finishes; some contain black polished bands bounded by a white concrete frame and finished to two different levels of exposure. The top floor penthouse apartments are clad with grey polished pre-cast panels. Many of the cladding panels are either concave or convex with pointed ends and most were pre-fitted with windows at the Techrete factory to accelerate the construction process.Masshouse submitted plans for a second residential building named Block M in August 2006. Construction commenced in August 2007 and was due for completion in 2009, however the collapse of development partner David McLean in 2008 caused construction to be put on hold. McLaren were appointed in place of David McLean and the building was completed in 2011. The development is estimated to have cost £23 million and consists of 167 studio, one and two bedroom apartments with 12 apartments per floor over 14 floors. The apartments went on sale in Spring 2011 under the name Hive, studio apartments started at £90,000 and one bedroom apartments at £110,000. All properties are powered by Birmingham District Energy Company, the first time residential homes in the city have benefited from the city's district water heating system the apartments receive power from the new Jennens Road Energy Centre on Aston University’s campus.