The £80m office building will reuse foundations of the residential and hotel scheme that was aborted in 2010 owing to the effects of the global financial crisis.
Designed by Sidell Gibson Architects the new proposals for the final phase replace outline planning consent granted in 2013 for a slightly smaller office building, which itself replaced the earlier proposed 43-storey residential tower and adjacent 23-storey hotel.
It is proposed the 17-storey office building will reuse three levels of basement car parking and the ground floor conference area already part constructed.
Structural cores for the earlier project had been built to fourth floor level but have now been demolished. The steel frame of the new building will punch through into new foundations, enabling existing structures to be reused.
Subject to consent, the development will start on site later this year and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017.
The Project team:
- Developer – Ballymore Properties Ltd PLC
- Project manager – Cheshire Shakeshaft
- Architect – Sidell Gibson
- Planning Consultant – Turley Associates
- Property Consultant – Savills
- Structural engineer – WSP
- Services engineer – Arup
The latest planning application follows the July 2014 announcement that HS2 Ltd, the organisation behind the high speed rail link planned between London and Birmingham, is to take the remaining vacant space in Snowhill 2.
“The development will provide high quality office space and will put the last piece of the Snowhill jigsaw in place, both architecturally and in terms of the business and employment community that is taking shape in this part of the city,” said Ron Sidell of Sidell Gibson.
“Reusing part of the scheme that was aborted owing to the effects of the global financial crisis will ensure a more sustainable approach, one which will also reduce the disruptive effects of the construction phase of the proposed project,” he added.
