Developer forges ahead with £93m BTR scheme planning

Developer Court Collaboration is forging ahead with its £93m Build-to-Rent (BtR) scheme at the New Garden Square site in Edgbaston as it looks to secure final approval from Birmingham City Council.

The specialist residential developer has now reached the final stages of its planning approval for almost 400 apartments.

The £93m scheme will be Court Collaboration’s third Build-to-Rent project in the region and will be a key part of the wider New Garden Square masterplan, being developed by Calthorpe Estates and U+I.

Highgate Land and Development jointly with CBRE acted as the development land agents for the landmark site, while the scheme design was created by Glancy Nicholls Architects.

Following recent permissions, Court Collaboration is now looking to secure final stage of planning approval from Birmingham City Council.

The residential scheme will feature:

392 BTR units across 3 separate blocks, with 1, 2 and 3 bed apartments
Visitor suites and resident amenity space including a gym and lounges
A concierge service
High-quality private communal gardens
Attractive stone facades reflecting the materials of the surrounding Calthorpe Estate
Around 10% secure basement parking spaces.

The overall New Garden Square project will see the transformation of the outdated 1960/1970’s commercial estate into a vibrant 10.7-acre mixed-use destination. Calthorpe Estates has started the preparatory works of clearing the site for the proposed BtR scheme, with demolition of the 123 and 127 Hagley Road buildings now underway.

Once complete, New Garden Square comprise 618,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation, with ancillary bars, restaurants, hotel and convenience retail, as well as Court Collaboration’s residential apartments.

Alex Neale, managing director at Court Collaboration, said: “Despite these difficult times and the challenges that everybody is facing, we’re delighted to be pressing ahead with our final phases of residential planning for New Garden Square. Our thanks go to Tony Haran of CBRE and Adrian Willet of Highgate Land and Development for all their hard work in helping to progress this scheme. It’s going to be such a fantastic addition to the city and we couldn’t be prouder to be involved.”

Ralph Minott, director of development, Calthorpe Estates, added: “This is yet another huge milestone in realising our New Garden Square vision within the Edgbaston commercial centre of the Calthorpe Estate. Court Collaboration’s early proposals struck us as most closely meeting our ambitions for a high quality and long-lasting regeneration of this historic site, and they have proven to be an excellent partner for our residential ambitions for NGS. These final detailed reserved matters design proposals submitted are simply tremendous, and a credit to the Court Collaboration team, Birmingham City Planner’s input, and exactly the development masterplan launch we envisioned.”