Friday, June 3, 2016


Floriat Birmingham - Three Snowhill


These are great days for Birmingham with many initiatives underway, including the largest ever speculative office building outside London now on site. We are proud to have masterplanned and designed the infrastructure and three buildings at Ballymore’s Snowhill over the last fifteen years, culminating in the third building which will provide 360,000ft2 of office space as well as 30,000ft2 of retail and leisure facilities. The development has already significantly helped to regenerate this key area of the city and create links between the existing business district and the Gun and Jewellery Quarters to the north. It has also opened up the eastern zone and will now become part of the Birmingham ‘Big City Plan’.

The go ahead for our Snowhill 3 has been promoted by George Osborne recently as an exemplar to the regions in redefining the economic map of the UK:

‘We want to make the Midlands Britain’s engine for growth and this landmark will play an important part’ he said ‘The resulting space will play home to businesses with thousands of valuable jobs right in the heart of the Midlands – a vital step in us rebalancing the economy in Britain’.

There is still much to be done – but the emerging success of projects such as Snowhill – already including tenants such as Barclays; KPMG; Gowling WLG and HS2, -  that deliver excellent value and returns for investors outside London, is something we hope to be part of for years to come.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Our Birmingham Journey



Sidell Gibson were appointed by Railtrack some fifteen years ago to prepare a master plan for Snowhill (Phase 1 and 2, Phase 3)  - on studying the area we were excited by the prospect of creating pedestrian routes through a variety of neighbourhoods including the historic gun and jewellery quarters.
Working with Ballymore Properties we have now completed the design for the whole estate,  the first two buildings are occupied by global companies. The last (and largest) is about to start on site. The Metro tramline which forms an integral part of the master plan is now running and enhances the vibrancy of the new public realm.
In helping to create this necklace of linked neighbourhoods Snowhill - and Birmingham in general, is emerging as a viable alternative to London;

"Birmingham is now competing on a global scale for investment, talent and tourism, rivalling not just London but cities across Europe and beyond"
Deloitte Senior Partner - Birmingham Post

We are proud to have been an integral part of Birmingham's "Big City Plan", though of course without Birmingham's planning authorities and their 'can do' and 'will do' approach none of this would have been possible.
The challenge with Snowhill now is how to further utilise this remarkable location - this vibrant confluence of road, Metro, rail and gateway to the city.
Looking at the larger site and the station there is an opportunity for a grand master plan for the whole Snowhill area - with HS2 hoving into view the opportunity is very real and must be realised soon - our work in Snowhill is only the beginning -

“The Snow Hill Master plan provides a bold and exciting proposal for how Birmingham can continue to grow its thriving business and professional services sector. With time, we want the city to replicate the success of Canary Wharf, with areas like the Snow Hill district forming the cornerstone of this vision."


 Sir Albert Bore, Leader of Birmingham City Council – Marketing Birmingham