Five-tower Goods Station scheme signed off after developer Vita Group changes one tower to private sale
Birmingham council has approved Simpson Haugh’s plans for 1,200-home Goods Station scheme a month after councillors deferred a decision over fears about an excess of tall buildings in the city.
A recommendation to approve Vita Group’s five-tower redevelopment of a former office building occupied by Atkins was carried with seven votes in favour and one abstention.
The scheme, located next to the Mailbox, will consist of three blocks of 49, 39 and 10 storeys containing a combined 868 homes, a 29-storey student accommodation tower containing 720 bedpsaces and a 19-storey hotel building containing 229 serviced apartments.
The height, scale and housing mix of the scheme had come under attack in the council’s last planning committee in April, with one councillor warning approval would represent “another incremental twist towards a city of tall towers”.
Councillors also criticised the design of the proposals, which councillor Gareth Moore described as “just a collection of boxes”.
However, concerns over the scheme’s housing mix, which had consisted entirely of build-to-rent, were alleviated by Vita’s decision to change one of the residential towers to private sale following the vote for deferral in last month’s committee meeting.
Councillors had criticised the build-to-rent plans for contributing to an oversupply of housing targeted at single professionals rather than families.
A clause has also been added to the scheme’s section 106 requiring Simpson Haugh to be retained throughout the delivery of the scheme to act as a “guardian of quality”.
Councillor David Barker said: “I believe we have a much better scheme now than the one previously there… I do think this is probably a lesson and a reason to defer more things when we are unhappy with it, to actually be a bit braver in the committee in saying we are able to determine what is good enough for the city and clearly we’ve had success by doing it.
Planning committee chair Lee Marsham added: “I think it’s great to see a brownfield site brought into use. I think it’s good that they listened to our previous committee’s comments. I think as a committee we have to be mindful when we do show a bit of rigour and be careful when we do and this is an example where clearly that has made a difference.”
Commenting on the requirement for Simpson Haugh to stay on the project as delivery architect, he said: “Having that reassurance and that oversight is to be welcomed and i think we should be pushing for more of that, particularly on large schemes that have a huge impact on our city.”
The project team for the Goods Station scheme includes landscape architect LDA Design, planning consultant Turley, structural and civil engineer Ramboll, cost consultant Arcadis, commercial agent CBRE and daylight consultant GIA.
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