By james art The plans, drawn up for developer Vita Group, include five new buildings between 10 and 49 storeys tall and a new public square near Birmingham New Street station, Make’s The Cube and Mailbox Birmingham, by Stanton Williams.
The scheme also includes a food hall and pedestrian routes linking Navigation Street with Holliday Street under Smallbrook Queensway, which links the site to Birmingham New Street station and the city centre.
Plans for the Waste Station have been in development for two years. Vita Group has appointed SimpsonHaugh to lead the site’s 2022 regeneration masterplan.
The site has been empty for two years. AtkinsRéalis once occupied a wing of the now demolished building on the site.
The site was previously occupied by a goods-only railway station which closed in 1967. The terminal was later used as a Royal Mail sorting office and part of this site is now occupied by the Associated Architects’ Mailbox, which opened in 2000 and later renovated by Stanton Williams.
Source: SimpsonHaugh
SimpsonHaugh’s submitted diagram of Goods Station Birmingham
John Weston, Development Director of Vita Group, said: “Over the past two years we have worked closely with Birmingham City Council, key stakeholders and the local community to shape the future of this key strategic site, completely transforming a vacant brownfield site in a new, sustainable urban district.
“The freight station has the opportunity to be an important catalyst for change in the city, creating new homes and jobs, while adding to the city’s expanding cultural and hospitality sector, creating a vibrant new district with significant social and economic benefits.”
Permission was previously secured in 2017 for another regeneration masterplan for developer LCR Property, drawn up by Fletcher Priest Architects. This scheme, which could have risen to 23 storeys, was not taken forward.
Vita Group bought the site in 2022.