Two Snowhill reaches topping out stage

A TOPPING out ceremony has been held 230ft above the Birmingham skyline to mark a major milestone in the construction of office development Two Snowhill.

The rooftop ceremony marked the building reaching its highest point, less than 12 months since work recommenced on site, and drew the project a step closer to its completion in January 2013.

More than 35 people attended the event, including representatives from Hines and Ballymore and contractors Balfour Beatty. The final piece of concrete was filled in and a yew tree was also placed upon the structure to bring good luck to the building.

Dave Tighe, project director at Balfour Beatty, said: “This ceremony not only provided a landmark event for the development of Two Snowhill, but for the further development of Birmingham.

“To get to this stage it has taken 3,000 tonnes of steel, 5,000 m3 of concrete, 800 workers directly employed on site and 10,000 people indirectly involved with the scheme.”

Two Snowhill will be the only new office building to be delivered to the central Birmingham market until at least 2015. The 14-storey building will provide more than 300,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation, of which 120,000 sq ft is available to let, as well as retail and leisure space.

Joint agents for the development are CBRE and GBR Phoenix Beard.