Mixed-use scheme planned for historic site

A mixed-use development featuring office and residential facilities has been proposed for a historic site in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.Sjölander da Cruz Architects was commissioned in August 2021 by Liv Property Ltd to develop proposals and seek approval for full planning permission at 16 Hockley Hill.16 Hockley Hill was once occupied by the locally listed Duke of York public house, which included a garden and bowling green to the rear and has been demolished after receiving damage through fire and neglect.The adjoining site was occupied by a late Victorian retail premises until this was demolished in 2010.Plans have now been submitted for ten mews townhouses with a five-storey frontage block housing three floors of office space and four apartments above.A design and access statement said: “The proposed form of the building has been designed to respect the urban context of the site in height and scale. The frontage block seeks to reintroduce the predominant historic building line at the back of pavement to create a well defined and harmonious streetscape.”The uses proposed within the development will also contribute towards the visions set out within the Jewellery Quarter Cultural Action Zone Vision, to ‘revitalise currently empty or underused frontages’ and create a street full of activities.”