Snowhill Development, Birmingham - January 2012
Visited with Gone, Millhouse and Rookie
After a brief conversation with Millhouse on the blower, I received an invite for a bit of rooftopping in Birmingham.
Now, with just the one night remaining until I had to start back at work after the Christmas break, I wasn't going to bother. I wanted to catch up on a few write ups and have a nice quiet one to ease me back into the working week. But alas, no sooner had I put the phone down and my brain started posing questions... what if it's a lovely clear night? What if they get up to something epic? If my working week is so dull and depressing, why don't I want to make the most of my free-time tonight? And so on and so forth...
...Until...
£32.90 later, and after about 17 fails in Birmingham City Centre on the coldest and windiest night of the year (so far
)... we did just the one easy rooftop, but hey... I like getting high these days, that was my goal for the evening, and it's always good hanging out these lads.
In the end, only a small part of me wishes I went to Ushaw with NickUK and Hiddenshadow instead.
Info and History
Snowhill is a mixed-use development by Ballymore between Snow Hill Queensway and Birmingham Snow Hill station in Birmingham. The £500 million phased scheme has been partly completed on the site of a former surface car park adjacent to the railway station. As part of the project, St. Chad's Circus on the Inner Ring Road has been levelled and reconfigured to create a new square adjacent to St. Chad's Cathedral and a viaduct has been constructed alongside the station in preparation for the extension of the Midland Metro into the city centre.
When completed, Snowhill will consist of a mixture of Grade A office space, retail units, a hotel and residential apartments in four buildings. The two office buildings with retail units on the ground floor have been designed by Sidell Gibson Architects whilst the five star hotel and residential buildings have been designed by Birmingham based-Glenn Howells. An underground car park is being constructed beneath the site. Phase 2, a 57 m (187 ft) tall office building with 12 floors was completed in 2009, whilst its neighbour Phase 4, at 75 metres (246 ft) in height with 15 floors, and Phase 3, a residential 40 storey building with a 23 storey hotel, are on hold due to financing issues with investors as a result of the current economic situation. No date has been set for work to recommence.
St. Chad's Cathedral is a Grade II* listed building designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. A new square has been created adjacent to Saint Chad's Cathedral, with the aim of attracting more pedestrians to the area.
Located near to Colmore Row, the site was once owned by the Colmore family who owned large areas of land to the north of the present city centre. The family began to establish road layouts and sell plots of land to builders in the 18th century. The site was one of the these plots and it became the location of Oppenheim's Glassworks. This is the earliest documented glassworks in Birmingham. The glassworks were built in 1757 by Mayer Oppenheim, a London merchant who moved to Birmingham in the same year and who patented red (ruby) glass in 1755. The building ceased to be used as a glasshouse after 1780/81. The site was later cleared to make way for the new Birmingham Snow Hill station. In 1970, Snow Hill station was redeveloped and the site became a surface car park and remained as such until construction work commenced.
Construction of Two Snowhill was suspended in 2009, with the basement level and slip form cores having been completed. The project restarted in 2011 and is due for completion in 2013. It will be partly occupied by legal firm, Wragge & Co who have signed up for 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of space, a new record for the Birmingham office market. As part of the development, St Chads Circus was levelled with the underpasses filled in.
Thanks for viewing,
tweek
Visited with Gone, Millhouse and Rookie
After a brief conversation with Millhouse on the blower, I received an invite for a bit of rooftopping in Birmingham.
Now, with just the one night remaining until I had to start back at work after the Christmas break, I wasn't going to bother. I wanted to catch up on a few write ups and have a nice quiet one to ease me back into the working week. But alas, no sooner had I put the phone down and my brain started posing questions... what if it's a lovely clear night? What if they get up to something epic? If my working week is so dull and depressing, why don't I want to make the most of my free-time tonight? And so on and so forth...
...Until...
£32.90 later, and after about 17 fails in Birmingham City Centre on the coldest and windiest night of the year (so far
)... we did just the one easy rooftop, but hey... I like getting high these days, that was my goal for the evening, and it's always good hanging out these lads. In the end, only a small part of me wishes I went to Ushaw with NickUK and Hiddenshadow instead.
Info and History
Snowhill is a mixed-use development by Ballymore between Snow Hill Queensway and Birmingham Snow Hill station in Birmingham. The £500 million phased scheme has been partly completed on the site of a former surface car park adjacent to the railway station. As part of the project, St. Chad's Circus on the Inner Ring Road has been levelled and reconfigured to create a new square adjacent to St. Chad's Cathedral and a viaduct has been constructed alongside the station in preparation for the extension of the Midland Metro into the city centre.
When completed, Snowhill will consist of a mixture of Grade A office space, retail units, a hotel and residential apartments in four buildings. The two office buildings with retail units on the ground floor have been designed by Sidell Gibson Architects whilst the five star hotel and residential buildings have been designed by Birmingham based-Glenn Howells. An underground car park is being constructed beneath the site. Phase 2, a 57 m (187 ft) tall office building with 12 floors was completed in 2009, whilst its neighbour Phase 4, at 75 metres (246 ft) in height with 15 floors, and Phase 3, a residential 40 storey building with a 23 storey hotel, are on hold due to financing issues with investors as a result of the current economic situation. No date has been set for work to recommence.
St. Chad's Cathedral is a Grade II* listed building designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. A new square has been created adjacent to Saint Chad's Cathedral, with the aim of attracting more pedestrians to the area.
Located near to Colmore Row, the site was once owned by the Colmore family who owned large areas of land to the north of the present city centre. The family began to establish road layouts and sell plots of land to builders in the 18th century. The site was one of the these plots and it became the location of Oppenheim's Glassworks. This is the earliest documented glassworks in Birmingham. The glassworks were built in 1757 by Mayer Oppenheim, a London merchant who moved to Birmingham in the same year and who patented red (ruby) glass in 1755. The building ceased to be used as a glasshouse after 1780/81. The site was later cleared to make way for the new Birmingham Snow Hill station. In 1970, Snow Hill station was redeveloped and the site became a surface car park and remained as such until construction work commenced.
Construction of Two Snowhill was suspended in 2009, with the basement level and slip form cores having been completed. The project restarted in 2011 and is due for completion in 2013. It will be partly occupied by legal firm, Wragge & Co who have signed up for 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of space, a new record for the Birmingham office market. As part of the development, St Chads Circus was levelled with the underpasses filled in.
Thanks for viewing,
tweek
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