Spreading the Japanese love in the Northern Quarter
Hilton House is to be given Japanese Kintsugi treatment, with the appointment of the Sheila Bird Group who plan to spread some Japanese love into the building.
The 35,000 sq ft office block on the corner of Tariff Street and Hilton Street was built by famed architect Richard Seifert in 1965.
With renovation plans for the building granted last month, Atul Bansal, co-founder of the Sheila Bird Group, has since been working with the owner and developer, CERT Property and architects Buttress to create plans for the project.
The concept of Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing and respecting broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum.
It treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
With huge windows, interesting features and parquet flooring throughout, Atul and his team want to respect Hilton House’s originality and pour creative gold on it to make it a place where people love to work.
Speaking about the project, Atul Bansal said: “I’ve always wanted to work on this beauty.
“I want to strip it back and let it be authentic.
“Location-wise, it doesn’t get much better and it’s time to make it work for the businesses that work in it and a place that encourages them to love what they do.
“So, how do we stitch that with the rest of the building?
“Japanese love, that’s what it’s going to be about.
“It’s going to be ace ace ace and we can’t wait to start working on it.”
Managing director of CERT Property, Howard Lord, added: “I grew up in the Northern Quarter, so I’ve seen it transform from what it was, to what it is today and for me I’m pretty proud to be involved in continuing the regeneration of the area.
“We wanted to recreate some of the rebelliousness of the Northern Quarter and what it stands for and Atul and Sheila Bird seemed like the perfect marriage to deliver something special.”
Director of Buttress Architects, Gavin Sorby, said: “I don’t think it’s well known enough as a building. When it’s finished I want people to know what is and where it is and what it’s for, and I think we can do that.”
Hilton House is six floors of office space.
When it opens in early 2019, it will be targeted at flexible and co-working space for SME’s.
