Tall & Urban News

Apartment developer Moda has agreed on a deal with John Sisk & Son to start work on a 42-story skyscraper in Birmingham.

The 481-apartment tower has been designed exclusively for rent, offering hotel-level service and a 200-meter running track around the podium building roof, one of the first to be offered in a UK housing development.

The £184 million (US$241 million) project will transform the derelict site of the former Click Club at Burberries, which hosted bands such as Blur and Primal Scream, underpinning the regeneration of the Broad Street area.

Work is due to start April 2019, with completion expected in 2022.

Andrew Parker, Director of Projects, Moda, said “We are extremely pleased to be working with John Sisk and Sons on this landmark project.  The teams have worked constructively together over many months to reach this milestone and we look forward to a successful project being delivered.”

The start on-site is a major vote of confidence in both Birmingham as a city and Britain’s emerging build-to-rent sector, despite the ongoing uncertainty caused by Brexit.

The Broad Street site features a 60,000 square-foot (5,500-square-meter) podium with over 30,000 square feet (2,800 square meters) of dedicated communal space, including residents’ lounge, dedicated health and wellness zones, co-working space, indoor/outdoor dining club featuring a demonstration kitchen, as well as a range of ground-floor commercial spaces.

The Broad Street site will be Sisk’s biggest Midlands scheme to date. Other high-profile projects they are developing include the £96 million (US$127 million) Circle Square mixed-use scheme in Manchester, as well as Quintain’s huge Wembley Park 7,000-apartment development.

Guy Fowler, Regional Managing Director at John Sisk & Son, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed by Moda to deliver this landmark scheme in the heart of Birmingham. We look forward to working in partnership with all our stakeholders, and in particular the local community, to create a lasting legacy. As a family-owned business, we are committed to people, and that is what makes us successful in delivering complex projects.”

Backed by Apache Capital Partners, Moda has a £2 billon (US$2.6 billion) development pipeline of 7,000 apartments across 10 UK cities.

The first project to finish will be the £154 million (US$202 million) 35-story Angel Gardens in NOMA, Manchester, which will offer 466 homes designed specifically for rent. First residents will arrive in summer 2019.

For more on this story, visit the Construction Enquirer.