New Arena Central Officially Unveiled

New Arena Central Officially Unveiled

The new proposal in Birmingham for Arena Central, revealed by Skyscrapernews in January, has been officially revealed this time around by the developer.

Designed by Eric Kuhne and his CivicArts practise for Miller Developments & Bridgehouse Capital, the building will have 47 floors of residential accommodation, three floors of retail around ground level and a skybar plus restaurant on the 50th floor giving it a total of 51. It should house about 600 apartments within.

Word on the grapevine is that the tower will come in around 170 metres in height making it just a touch taller structurally than the Beetham Tower in Manchester and the tallest building in the city passing Birmingham's Telecom Tower.

The design of the building itself starts with a pretty ordinary ground level, remarkable only for a series of sculptural screens littered around the tower that will create unique vantage points when it's approached. These will have the works of famous writers from the midlands including Shakespeare and no doubt, Tolkein, on them. A quote on Isengard would be particularly apt.

One of the main features is irregular shape and the sharp ends. Vertical veins and piping play on the height whilst the basic box tower formula that's become so popular throughout British cities will be maintained right down to being within only a few metres of the likes of Lumiere in Leeds.

A large amount of light is used by the project turning it into a beacon for the city centre of Birmingham, something the developers are believed to have been aiming for. At night the tower will become a mass of light creating the most notable landmark on the Birmingham skyline.

The project is now called the V Building, possibly for victory, but expect jokes about vendettas and rubbish 80s sci-fi mini series full of aliens.

Miller Developments & Bridgehouse are expected to get the planning report in for next month to capitalise on outline permission the V Building already has. Birmingham City Council should green-light the project before the end of the year and with only a contractor needing to be appointed construction could get underway in 2008. Dare we finally hope this?

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