Birmingham's first official skyscraper has marked a major milestone

Insider Media

The Octagon, the £110m residential scheme in the city's Paradise development, has 'topped out', marking the highest point of construction. A ceremony was held at the top of the 155-metre tall tower to celebrate the achievement. The 49-storey structure is not only the tallest building in Birmingham and the wider Midlands, it is also the world’s highest pure octagonal residential tower. It is considered the city’s first official skyscraper by being the first building to exceed 150 metres. It is due to be completed in summer 2025. The Octagon, developed by Singapore-based City Developments Ltd, is part of the £1.2bn Paradise development, which will deliver up to ten new buildings and three new public squares.

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm Ian Griffin, Deputy Editor of Midlands Business Insider, and I'm here at the top

00:16of the Ottagan Tower in Birmingham, the city's tallest building at 155 metres, and the city's

00:22first skyscraper. I've just attended the topping out ceremony, and I've also heard that this

00:28is the tallest pure octagon-shaped building in the world. So let's hear what some of the

00:34people behind this fantastic development had to say.

00:37Hi, my name's Andy Bushel. I'm a Development Manager at MEPC, and I look after the octagon.

00:44So the octagon sits on the northern edge of the Paradise Master Plan. It wasn't originally

00:50part of the original planning consent. It was a late arrival to the scheme. What it

00:59did, it brought in residential use to the Master Plan. It meant that we could bring

01:07in that night-time economy, and it also gave the opportunity to bring in a different type

01:13of architectural treatment to the scheme as well. We always knew we were going to go tall

01:18on the site, and by going tall, it gave us that responsibility to make sure that we

01:26contributed positively to the Birmingham skyline. I've got to say, what a way to do it, building

01:33the first pure octagonal tower in the world.

01:38Kevin Keegan. I'm a Director of JRL Group. We're the contractors on the octagon. We first

01:46looked at the opportunities that were up and coming in Birmingham about seven or eight

01:50years ago, and we decided that from our southeast base, we should try and take advantage of

01:56some of these opportunities. So we started canvassing for work around the local architects,

02:03developers, and we came across the octagon project with MEPC Hermes, and they were very

02:12kind to give us the opportunity to price it, and we started looking at it probably

02:18about five years ago. We assisted in developing the design. We looked at an alternative way

02:25of building the facade, making it a lightweight aluminium structure, which made the project

02:30viable. We worked really closely with Howells Architects, who created the original concept.

02:38I'm Neil McGinty. I'm the Development Director for City Developments Limited.

02:43They're a Singaporean property developer. I am the lead for UK residential development.

02:50We were introduced to this project in Birmingham pretty close after the COVID lockdown. It was a

02:58period perhaps where developers were holding back on some opportunities, but we really

03:04wanted to be in Birmingham, and an opportunity at Paradise really couldn't have been overlooked.

03:10It would have been absolutely negligent for a developer with our aspirations to be in the big

03:15regional cities not to embrace it. The more we looked at the scheme, the more we loved it.

03:21The iconic architecture, the fabulous apartments, the views, we always knew were going to be

03:27stunning. Working with some tremendous players in Birmingham, Howells are an absolute landmark

03:33architect. Federated Hermes and all the work they've done at Paradise, just great committed

03:40local teams, which is something we're all about and really wanted to be part of.

03:44We started on site probably about three years ago. A landmark project for us, our first project in

03:50Birmingham, and a landmark project for the city. It really is unusual. It's extremely high quality

03:59and it was great for us to have such a high profile project on our books to be able to bring

04:06other clients around and show them what we can do. We actually see ourselves as being specialists

04:12in tall buildings, doing both the structure and the facade and the internal MEP works in-house.

04:22So the height of this building wasn't particularly challenging. It is a very very tight city centre

04:27site with a huge difference in levels across the site. So coming out the ground, which is something

04:33people won't appreciate, was one of the key difficulties here and we've overcome that.

04:40The next key stage for us was getting the mock-up of the facade signed off and Birmingham City

04:47Council planners had some very strong views on the facade and I have to say with hindsight that

04:52some of the things they picked us up on were right and I think if people look at the building today

04:57they will agree that it is a beautifully engineered facade and I think that that

05:02extra bit of effort and people working together has proved worthwhile. We absolutely would do

05:08more in Birmingham. As a business we love iconic buildings, everyone loves iconic buildings

05:16and this certainly is. If the opportunity came up we definitely would be back in Birmingham.

05:21So it's a landmark project for us establishing our city in Birmingham

05:25and we think it gives us a great springboard to move forward from.

05:29There's kind of a fixation in London about how far things are away from London, right? You know

05:34we're always kind of, oh it's an hour and a quarter from London. I would say that, you know, London's

05:38an hour and a quarter away from Birmingham. People should be in Birmingham. Everything that you want

05:44is here and in many ways, you know, it's not a compact city by the stretch of the imagination but

05:50it's very walkable, there's loads of great businesses here, there's loads of great hospitality,

05:56fabulous culture, really warm welcome and a local authority that is very up for

06:02development and growth and attracting business. So it's a great place to be.

Category

Transcript

Recommended