ELEVEN Brindleyplace is the tallest of the towers on the mixed-use complex in central Birmingham and has some fantastic views on a sunny day. TheBusinessDesk.com takes a tour and finds out what else it has to offer.

ON the day of our guided tour around the award winning Eleven Brindleyplace, we are blessed with fantastic spring sunshine.

The 17-acre mixed-use complex is littered with office workers and visitors enjoying a stroll or a late lunch by the fountain. It is, simply, a fantastic setting to work in and one most people would enjoy walking through to get to work.

Number Eleven towers over Brindleyplace at its west end, peering down on its neighbours RBS and Mint Hotel.

Taking 18 months to build and completed in March 2009, it can boast an interesting mix of tenants such as recruitment agency Robert Waters, the West Midlands Institute of Directors and the building’s developer and landlord Argent.

The company, headquartered in London, is synonymous with Brindleyplace as it was they who developed the former factory and warehousing site from 1993 onwards – 17 buildings in 17 years.

• PICTURE GALLERY: A look inside Eleven Brindleyplace

It is also estate manager but now only owns some of the complex after selling off several buildings to investors Hines and Moorfield last summer.

Argent’s project manager Ross Fittall, below, believes interest in the tower is picking up and is confident of letting the vacant space across eight floors.

“We had a really good start for the first six months of last year in terms of doing deals in a difficult time. It tailed off a bit after that but this year is looking a bit more positive again.

“The level of interest is good. We have a couple of proposals out at the moment and have done more viewings in the last three months than we did in the previous six.”

Among its features is a laid back ‘Meeting Space’ in the foyer, a sort of coffee shop for business people who don’t want to be stuck behind a desk in a stuffy conference room, and health club style showers and changing facilities in the basement.

Certain conference and meetings rooms are available but shared among companies so tenants have a weekly time allowance rather than paying extra rent for space they rarely use.

The lobby provides a grandiose welcome with solid marble throughout but the pièce de résistance has to be the views from the upper floors on a clear day, across Birmingham’s sprawling skyline and westwards to Edgbaston Reservoir.

Eleven, the last office complex to be completed on the estate, was built by BAM Construction and designed by city architect Glenn Howells.

In October, just over 18 months after it was completed, it received national recognition when the British Council for Offices named it the nation’s top workplace.

“Argent always wanted to have building which was designed from the outset for smaller and medium sized companies and be multi-occupied,” Mr Fittall told me.

“Originally, Eight Brindleyplace was going to be that building but then RBS came along with a large requirement. Obviously, you’re not going to turn that down, which put on hold plans for that type of building until this came along.”