Digbeth

Warwick Bar is known as the cultural quarter of Birmingham. The area around the property consists of a mixture between service sector agencies, art and heavy industry. Examples of tenants at Warwick Bar are Clifton Steel, Edible Eastside, Grand Union and K4 Architects. The site is located in Digbeth which is currently being redeveloped with plans for co-working spaces, food and drink markets, offices and residential apartments. The area is filled with businesses in the media and art sector. It is upcoming and becoming especially popular with it being considered ‘the coolest place to live in the UK’, according to Sunday Times.

An example of new development near the site is ‘Beorma’ which is located in the centre of the Digbeth regeneration. Beorma Quarter is developing with over 250,000 sq ft of Grade A Offices, 227 apartments and 15,000 sq ft retail and leisure space. The project has been divided into three different phases with phase 1 complete. Another example is ‘Connaught square’ which will consist of an approximate 725 apartments in four different blocks. In conjunction with the buildings, the River Rea will be opened, a pedestrian bridge will be built and a new street will be created.

Character of the area

The character of the area is defined by the warehouses built between the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s. The architectural quality in the area consists of high-quality brickwork with Victorian red brick and sparingly decoration. The current buildings on the site collectively do not exceed three storeys. When looking at the street patterns these are related to the remaining simple urban early nineteenth-century plan. The lack of open, public space in the area is a key factor that will be addressed with the proposed development and various other regenerations within Digbeth. The canal side with its heritage makes a mark on the area and needs to be a main feature within a new development, opening up the heritage it brings, the key spine running from the south to the city centre.