Redevelopment plans for Birmingham city centre will include massive improvements to the city’s gay village, developers have claimed.
The area around Birmingham’s gay village is set to benefit from a £550,000 investment from the city council, which will include improved street lighting and the widening of pavements to make the area more pedestrian-friendly.
However, other plans for the regeneration of the city have suffered a recent setback as proposals for a 650-ft tower have been heavily criticised by the government’s architecture watchdog.
The Regal Property Group announced proposals in 2009 to build a 56-storey skyscraper at a cost of £125 million on Broad Street.
Regal managing director Roger Holbeche praised the design when submitting planning permission last year.
He said to the Birmingham Post: “Regal Tower will be one of Birmingham’s tallest buildings and is set to alter the city’s skyline with its inspirational design. It will provide the highest fine dining and drinking venue in the city within its premier sky bar.”
However, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, is urging the city planning committee not to grant approval and to ask the scheme’s architects to think again.
The city council claims that the new building developments within the city will: “make a huge contribution to the regeneration of the city, creating new construction jobs and apprenticeships.”
Planning committee members have decided to visit the Regal Tower site before making a decision on that site.