Major apartment scheme set for former Birmingham factory site

Developers have secured planning permission to construct 140 new apartments on the site of a former factory fringing Birmingham city centre.

ESRG Developments plans to build the flats on a site bounded by Green Street, Birchall Street and Bradford Street in Digbeth.

The site, part of which is occupied by the former Henry Shaw & Sons fasteners factory, lies in the heart of a new development hotspot and borders the massive Connaught Square scheme.

The plans approved by Birmingham’s planning committee are slightly different to the original proposals that were submitted in the spring.

Over the summer, planning officers have worked with the developer to scale down the size of the development because of concerns the height of the apartment block would be out of keeping with the surrounding area and overshadow the listed White Swan pub and the completed Harrison Drape residential scheme.

The original scheme proposed 165 apartments but this has been reduced to 140 and the height of the building capped at between five and six storeys to compensate for the site gradient. There will also be 42 car parking spaces.

The mix of apartments has also been amended from what was originally proposed by the developer.

The mix is now 60% two-bed accommodation compared with the original 60% one-bed, a mix which councillors on the planning committee said would help make the scheme more sustainable.

Councillors were told the proposal represented a “high quality residential scheme within the Southern Gateway Area” and had the added benefit of utilising a brownfield site.

Approval is subject to a £370,000 Section 106 settlement to go towards off-site affordable housing and public realm improvements.