£9.5m grant to turn landmark into Citadel of sustainability
A VICTORIAN landmark in Birmingham’s historic Corporation Street is to receive a £9.5 million investment in a bid to regenerate for the next generation.
The ornate Citadel building is being transformed into an eco-friendly hybrid mix of office, retail and social space, helping to bring new life and vitality to what had traditionally been the city’s premier shopping street.
The investment by from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) follows a commitment earlier this year to provide the funding needed to kickstart the transformation of the historic Murdoch Chambers & Pitman Building on the opposite side the road.
Developer Kinrise, which specialises in reimagining and restoring iconic buildings, has now started work on the transformation of the Citadel which is expected to be the city’s “most sustainable workplace” once it is completed this summer.
It will offer more than 46,000 sqft of office, retail and social space behind its impressive Victorian façade and be run by a building app and state-of-the-art technology.
It will be operationally net zero carbon, powered by 100% green electricity, with
LED lighting, VRF air conditioning, electric car charging stations and cycle storage spaces.
The scheme is expected to create or safeguard around 350 jobs.
Corporation Street was originally developed in the 1870s as a Parisian-style boulevard – a scheme that was vigorously promoted by the city’s mayor Joseph Chamberlain.
A fictitious address on the street, 126b Corporation Street, features in The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk, a Sherlock Holmes story written by Arthur Conan Doyle and published in 1893.
But the New Street Station end of Corporation Street suffered serious bomb damage during World War II with several buildings lost to the Birmingham Blitz and the subsequent redevelopments of the 1960s.
West Midlands mayor Andy Street said: “It’s wonderful news that we have helped to unlock this exciting new development by Kinrise. Although this is their first foray into Birmingham, Kinrise are familiar with the modern renovation and repurposing of heritage buildings so I have great confidence in the revival of the Citadel building.”