City centre tower named Best of the Best at national awards

AN OFFICE tower in Birmingham city centre has beaten rivals from across the UK to be crowned the ‘Best of the Best’ at a national awards ceremony.

Eleven Brindleyplace lined up alongside winners from four other UK regions last night at the annual British Council for Offices National Awards Dinner.

After being crowned winner in the Best Commercial Workplace category, the 12-storey complex was also named the top project from all six individual category winners.

The building was completed in May 2009 by developers, owners and landlords Argent and was one of the first in the city to receive a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.

Judges praised it for its approach in providing floor plates to meet the needs of large occupiers and also growing companies.

Argent project director James Heather, who collected the award, said: “Our aim was to create a distinctive building and to add a new dimension of office space on the estate.

“Through the dedication, talent and determination of our design and project team, we achieved this and this award is a great recognition of that accomplishment.”

Architect Glenn Howells, whose studio designed the building, added: “Working with Argent and the rest of the project team to deliver the last building at the Brindleyplace estate has been a terrific experience.

“The process of developing a successful, flexible and architecturally strong building is testament to the team’s enthusiasm and commitment to the project.

“For Eleven Brindleyplace to be awarded best office building in the country is an amazing success for the design team, Argent and indeed Birmingham.”

BCO Awards chairman John Forrester said: “Eleven Brindleyplace sets an impressive benchmark for new office development not only in the Midlands but nationally.

“It is undoubtedly a standout project and its success is down to the integrity of the design and strength of partnership between Argent and Glenn Howells.”

The winners from the Midlands and East Anglia region were announced in May and featured three other projects from Birmingham – Birmingham City Council’s Lifford House, Two Colmore Square and Associated Architects.

However, none of these took home the national prize in their category at the ceremony, which was held at Grosvenor House, in Park Lane, London.

The other BCO UK winners were:

Best Corporate Workplace: Guardian News and Media, London

Best Refurbished/Recycled Workplace: Broad Gate, Leeds

Best Fit-out of Workplace: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Glasgow

Best Project up to 2,000m2: Graeae Theatre Company, London

Innovation Award: West Lothian Civic Centre, Livingston