Green light for major CBD office redevelopment

A post-war central business district office building is set to be redeveloped after Birmingham city council approved plans to extend and regenerate the site.120 Edmund Street will be transformed into ‘The Drapery’ after being vacant since the relocation of HSBC to 1 Centenary Square in 2022.Two storeys of additional floorspace will be developed to create a 250,293 sq ft ten-storey building, as well as external terraces on floors seven to ten. Winter gardens will be introduced on floors one to six as well as a commercial unit on the lower ground floor on the Cornwall Street frontage.A new accessible cycle entrance will also be made on Cornwall Street, as well as 168 bicycle spaces, bike repair station, charging facilities for electric bikes and changing facilities. Car parking spaces will be reduced from 104 to 11 with the development targeting a BREEAM rating of Excellent and a Nabers rating of 4*.Savills estimates that the scheme has the potential to create up to 3,973 jobs based on the design occupancy as well as jobs generated during the construction period.