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Skyscrapers seem to have been popping up left, right and centre in Birmingham of late. And now the city council has just given the green light for yet another one. A project named 2 Snowhill Plaza will be the city’s next high-rise project – and it could be one of the UK’s tallest towers outside of London.
2 Snowhill Plaza will stand at 48 storeys tall (though its actual height is yet to be revealed) and will boast 462 apartments plus tonnes of ground floor commercial space. The designers of the building, Metropolitan Workshop, say it will take inspiration from other nearby post-war landmarks. Planners say that it will help in creating more sustainable, walkable neighbourhoods in the area, providing over 600 square metres of ‘enhanced public open space’ with plants, seating and bike storage.
Co-founder of Metropolitan Workshop Neil Deely said: ‘This is our first project in Birmingham and we were really inspired by the city’s challenge to Be Bold, Be Birmingham. Our approach recalls and celebrates the city’s proud post-war architectural traditions, delivers new connectivity for pedestrians on Snowhill and uniquely provides residential amenity on five levels.’
While Manchester is currently home to the tallest UK buildings outside of London (its tallest stands at 201 metres), Birmingham is following hot on its heels. 2 Snowhill Plaza joins a cluster of new high-rise builds in the city such as recently-approved 41-story Curzon Wharf, the just-completed Mercian (which is 132 metres and 42 storeys tall) and Octagon, a 49-storey, 155-metre site currently under construction which is set to be the city’s tallest skyscraper.
For comparison, The Shard in London is 310m (1016ft) tall – so Birmingham still has a long way to go if it hopes to compete with the capital’s skyline.
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