Brindleyplace recognised with Civic Society award
BRINDLEYPLACE has won a prestigious Birmingham Civic Society award.
The complex, off Broad Street, has scooped the Peoples’ Choice 2020 Haywood award for its “progressive and historic connections and ability to bring different aspects of the city together in one place”.
The winner of the Judge’s Award was Peter White, former architect for British Waterways, who died in 2018, and is credited with the revival of the canal network as a place for leisure, particularly in Birmingham.
The award is named after William Haywood, one of the founders of Birmingham Civic Society in 1900 and one of the most influential leaders of the city in the early 20th century.
As one of the first large-scale, commercially-led mixed use developments outside of a capital city anywhere in the world, Brindleyplace has helped inspire similar developments around the UK and globally.
Matthew Vaughan, Trustee of Birmingham Civic Society, said: “Brindleyplace is considered an exemplary redevelopment of a brown field site and has a compelling historic narrative linking back to the industrial revolution and the birth of inland waterways which enabled Birmingham to become the workshop of the world. The development’s modern re-imagining of this role has helped transform the city centre over the past two decades, bringing more
people, investment and jobs to the city.”
Raj Rajput, managing director of asset management at Hines, which owns the estate, said: “Brindleyplace is not only the city’s premier mixed use destination, but is recognised globally as a leading example of waterside regeneration.
“Nominated by the team at Argent, the original developers of the site,
this award is testament to the strong, original design of the estate and the continued investment that has been made in it. We’re determined to continue to build the city’s finest work, leisure and social place that will attract further occupiers and tenants who will enhance the offering of the estate that already makes Brindleyplace such a lively and vibrant destination for the city.”
Brindleyplace attracts more than four million visitors a year to its variety of bars, cafés and restaurants, contemporary art gallery, Ikon, and National Sea Life Centre.
It is also home to a number of major employers, including Deutsche Bank, Natwest, Lloyds Banking Group, Deloitte and Avison Young, between them employing more than 10,000 staff.