Arena Centrals New Look

Arena Centrals New Look

After years of subtle rumours and "hush hush" words being said off the record, the new design for the Arena Square Tower, the focal point of the larger Arena Central Scheme has unveiled itself to the public.

At a slender 47 storeys tall, Arena Square Tower will stand as the tallest tower in Birmingham city centre, and although official heights are not known, scale models suggest the skyscraper may stand at around 150-160m in height.

Eric Kuhne of Eric R Kuhne and Associates was said to have personally developed the tower and has stated his intention for the tower to be the best he has ever designed, and judging by initial images, he has succeeded in his goal.

On initial viewing, the tower seems to replicate the common and popular box like towers springing up in our northern neighbours of Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds. However, on closer inspection the tower is broken up by small but effective details.

Its slightly slanted roof gives the tower extra height and sleekness whilst vertical veins running down the tower emphasises its height. The double height and cantilevering floors at the base of the tower give the buildings detail and interest at a human scale and provides an impressive entrance whilst cantilevering floors higher up the tower give suggestions of a public viewing gallery or an impressive restaurant location.

Comfort can be taken in the fact that for such a prominent and dominating tower, there seems to have been a real attention to its detail from its height and shape to the cladding used.

The initial reaction from people within the industry put this tower among the best designed towers of any designed for our regional cities and "up there with the London projects".

Other than its design, the tower is also ground breaking for other reasons: the Civil Aviation (CAA) height limit imposed across the city. Reaching up to 300m Above Ordnance Data (AOD) - that's above sea level to the normal human - this tower smashes through the 242m AOD limit set by the CAA. Although this limit does not affect most cities within the country, Birmingham's location on a limestone ridge means its towers are limited to approx 30 floors/120m. However, for the first time in the city's history, the CAA withdrew its objections for the Arena Central Scheme and gave its blessing for a tower of up to 315m AOD.

The unveiling of such a tower also re-affirms confidence within developers to build upwards in the city after a number of years which have seen other competing cities excel in high-rise developments. Over the last six months, the 38 storey Broad Street Tower and 30 Storey Martineau Galleries Tower have been approved by the local council, the 124m twin towers as part of the redevelopment of New Street Station have gone into planning, and twin towers, on reaching 40 floors at Snow Hill and now a 47 storey Arena Square tower have been unveiled to the public.

Work on the project has been stated to start with enabling works in the first half of 2007 while a reserved matters application for the tower is expected in the coming months.

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