Green light for 47-storey tower in Birmingham’s Broad Street cluster

Glancy Nicholls has been given the green light for a 47-storey tower in Birmingham that will be the tallest among a cluster on the city’s Broad Street.

Birmingham council approved developer Regal Property Group’s plans for the 525-home scheme at a planning committee meeting earlier this week.

The 145m-tall building at 90-97 Broad Street will join a growing number of towers in the city centre district, which has been marked out by the council as a tall building zone.

The 0.25ha site is currently occupied by a vacant three-storey commercial building, which will be demolished to make way for the tower. It is close to several listed buildings, including the directly adjacent grade II-listed former Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, built in 1814, and a grade II-listed former bank building built in 1898.

Regal had argued in its heritage and townscape assessment that the construction of the tower would have a positive impact on the former hospital building by replacing the existing buildings with a higher quality development.

The council’s conservation officer conceded that they were “not entirely convinced” at this analysis, adding: “Arguing that placing a 47-storey tower adjacent to a 2-storey listed building which presents a challenge to the building and its historic scale is a positive change because it will be high quality does not justify or significantly mitigate for the negative impact caused through scale.”

But the council’s planning officers said that the heritage harm that would be caused by the proposals did not provide a clear reason for refusing the scheme, which it said would make a meaningful contribution to the city’s housing shortage.

Other tall buildings proposed for the area include Howell’s redesigned 100 Broad Street, a 33-storey tower approved last month.