Here, together with Birmingham's People with Passion, we take a look at the major builds taking place across the City. We have included some stunning photography in this first article in a series of regular journal updates produced and published by www.ItsYourBuild.com for BirminghamWeAre. 

Big thanks to Simon Paul Felton for pulling together the article.

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For this update, we've selected 4 of the developments taking place across the City; Chamberlain Square development at Paradise; Arena Central and One & Two Bank Tower developments in Westside; and the vast Snowhill complex in Birmingham.

Let's take a look at what's happening at Paradise, Birmingham

The site of the former Birmingham Central Library, Adrian Boult Hall and offices has been masterplanned by Glenn Howells Architects for owners Argent.

The Central Library (Known locally as the 'Ziggurat') Photo by Daniel Sturley 2014

The first phase has seen changes to the road layout and the construction of One Chamberlain Square which is pre-let to PricewaterhouseCoopers as well as the recent rapid construction of Two Chamberlain Square. 

Walkway through Chamberlain Square down to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

View from the Library of Birmingham's 'Secret Garden'. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild

Improvements have also been made to Chamberlain Square and new high quality paving both in Chamberlain Square and the reinstated pedestrian route between Victoria and Centenary Squares. The final development will see the creation of 1.8m sq ft of office-led mixed use development.

Exterior taking shape at One Chamberlain Square Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild

View from the Library of Birmingham's 'Secret Garden'. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

Work well up and running at Two Chamberlain Square Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

View from near Birmingham Town Hall. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

 

Let's now pop over to Westside, Birmingham

Arena Central is a joint venture between Miller Developments and Bridgehouse Capital for a mixed use development of office, hotel, leisure and new public squares. The site was the former home of ITV television studios, previously being the home of Tiswas and soap Crossroads.

Syline view of work underway in Westside, Birmingham. Courtesy ItsyourBuild.

A part of the public space being prepared. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

The site was cleared in 2013 with a new Holiday Inn Express Hotel starting to be built in 2014.

The Holiday Inn Express from Holliday Street. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

September 2015 saw construction start on One Centenary Square, the new HSBC UK headquarters designed by MAKE Architects.

The almost externally complete One Centenary Square. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

Two years later in September 2017 after plans were already approved for 3 Arena Central the Government committed to taking the whole 14 storey building with groundbreaking to officially start construction in February 2018.

The concrete core for Three Arena Central has already gone up. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

The site sits adjacent to Centenary Square and near to the Paradise development which are both being redeveloped.

The view at Centenary Way. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

New paving at Centenary Square. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

Now over to Bank Tower One and Two. This pair of towers, the first complete at 22 storeys tall, and the second to be 31 storeys tall and currently under construction are on the site of a former car park behind former Grade II listed Big Bite takeaway.  

Looking up at Towers One and Two on Broad Street in Westside, Birmingham. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

The towers, a development by Regal Property Group, designed by Glancy Nicholls Architects will offer 400 units between them comprised of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments and is being built by Wates Construction.

 

The third of our developments featured this month is at Snowhill, Birmingham

Three Snowhill is the final phase of the four acre Snowhill estate which has been developed by Ballymore over the last ten years. The office block, the largest city centre office scheme outside London, is the third building in the estate and will reach 17 storeys tall. The first two blocks on the estate are both fully let with tenants including Barclays, KPMG, Gowlings and the construction HQ of HS2.

View skyward from St Chad's Queensway. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

June 2018 saw Three Snowhill top out as it reached its highest point.  Glazing is currently being installed on the building as it starts to blend in with One and Two Snowhill.

Looking down Great Charles Street at Three Snowhill, Birmingham. Photo courtesy ItsyourBuild.

 

Birmingham skyline - cranes, cranes and more cranes! Let's get creative! 

Don't forget to take a look at our great Crane Photography feature - a collection of wonderful photography championed by one of the star's of Birmingham's 'People with Passion' , Daniel Sturley. See our regularly updated feature on Cranes where we've built, and adding to, a magnificent archive of great photos that track the changes as they happen across the Birmingham skyline. 

Photos courtesy Daniel Sturley, a community champion at itsyourBuild

We hope you have enjoyed this article, the first of many to be added to our Birmingham Construction Journal.  Next time, let's feature a development of your choice!

To find out more about us and our plans at BirminghamWeAre and at ItsyourBuild, CONNECT HERE. We have plenty of partnership opportunities and would love to hear from you if you are passionate about construction, architecture or your City. 

To find out more about our growing 'People with Passion' and create impact, connect here.