Topping out for Nikal’s Exchange Square scheme

Phase One of Nikal’s Exchange Square project in Birmingham City Centre – also known as Allegro – has marked a milestone with an official topping out ceremony.

With the first two buildings of the build-to-rent scheme complete and the final 27-storey tower on track for completion in November this year, main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine celebrated progress along with representatives from Nikal and LaSalle Investment Management.

Allegro was Birmingham’s first significant build-to-rent scheme and acted as a catalyst for further BTR in the city. LaSalle Investment Management forward funded the development on behalf of one of the UK’s largest pension funds in a £105m deal – one of the largest forward funding deals for a scheme of this size outside of London.

Allegro offers 603 rental apartments making it the largest build-to-rent development in the city, with a mix of studio, one, two- and three-bedroom apartments available for rent.

A recently launched ‘wellness centre’ offers residents inclusive state-of-the-art gym equipment, provided by Technogym.

Meanwhile, 30,000 sq ft of retail/leisure space has just been released for rent by Birmingham based agents, Rapleys.

Hector McAlpine, executive partner of Sir Robert McAlpine, said: “Our company vision, ‘Proudly Building Britain’s Future Heritage’, is no more relevant than here at Exchange Square. We are proud to be part of the team to deliver luxury rental apartments and to play our role in enabling tenants to live in a new Urban Village in the centre of Birmingham.”

Nick Payne, Nikal co-founder and managing director, said: “This is a significant milestone in our history with this site and with Birmingham. To give you an idea of the scale of this project I can tell you that it has employed over 500 people, 60% of them from the local area.

“It is a pleasure to be able to say that, along with our esteemed colleagues at LaSalle, Sir Robert McAlpine and all their trusted contractors and suppliers, we built this.”
 
Photo caption: Len Bogic (Works Manager, SRM), Nick Payne (Managing Director, Nikal), Andrew Stanford (Head of UK Residential, LaSalle), Shaun Reed (Fund Manager, LaSalle), Mark Hudson (Head of Construction, Nikal), The Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham Councillor Yvonne Mosquito, Hector McAlpine (Executive Partner, SRM), Stuart Bale (Project Manager-Exchange Square, SRM), Darren Jones (Development Director, Nikal)