Unloved John Madin Office Block Set For Transformation

An unloved brutalist office block, designed in 1962 by John Madin, will be repurposed and brought back to life to deliver 266-bed student accommodation and a 123-room hotel.

The site at 12 Calthorpe Road contains two blocks, the tallest reaching 11 storeys.

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MERCIA REAL ESTATE (MRE) is now free to transform the site to deliver 266-bed purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), alongside a 123-room hotel.

The vacant site at 12 Calthorpe Road, designed by the famous architect, John Madin, contains two blocks, the tallest of which reaches 11 storeys. They are both joined vertically by a small link. These will be demolished to allow each to become separate entities.

The roofs on both will also be demolished and a two-storey, 31K SF extension added to make the project viable.

The tallest block will be turned into student digs, comprising en-suites & studios, while the smaller five-storey is to become a 123-room hotel, with provision for a 120 cover restaurant pavilion.

The hotel, alongside the pavilion, will feature a reception, restaurant and bar; while the student element will feature a sky lounge, virtual training room, gym, games area, cinema room, and study spaces.

Cycle parking is to be provided alongside the addition of 73 car parking bays across the site, mainly in the rear car park and the basement underneath the hotel.

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However, approval wasn’t plain sailing. Brutiful Birmingham, the lobby group that aims to protect the city’s brutalist heritage, objected to demolition, as did Edgbaston MP Prett Gill, and Calthorpe Residents’ Society.

Concerns, however, were dismissed by officers, and agreed by the committee, as causing “less than substantial harm”.

Student needs also cropped up, despite assessments supporting the need for such accommodation, with MRE suggesting that Calthorpe Road could meet shortfalls in the supply of PBSA.

Birmingham City Council agreed: “A need for the student accommodation has been demonstrated. The proposal would support the function of both the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University (a short walk away from Calthorpe Road) as key providers of employment, culture, and learning in the city,”.

Mercia Real Estate have since mentioned that discussions are on-going with Birmingham City University to take bedspaces.

With a demonstrable demand for student digs, and (perhaps) less so for workspaces, certainly at this moment in time, could this become the norm for our city centres?

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All renderings are the property of Glancy Nicholls Architects.