Plans revealed for new apartments in former office building

Plans to turn the long-derelict Beneficial House on Paradise Circus in Birmingham into 190 self-contained serviced apartments have been revealed.

Colico Living is behind the scheme for the building, which has a varied planning history and was recently granted planning permission to be turned into a 130-room hotel.

Colico Living wants to have completed the scheme by 2022, according to documents filed with Birmingham City Council’s planning department. The seven-storey building was built in the 1960s, but has been empty for around five years and covered in scaffolding to prevent failing cladding falling from it. It had previously been used as retail, a nightclub and offices across its various floors.

A planning statement from Lanpro reads: “The proposal offers an opportunity to establish a new use class in a building which is in need of significant repair and maintenance. The new use would help to achieve a long term Council ambition to see the site developed and form a positive contribution to the Paradise Circus investment programme.

“The proposal is considered to comply with all of the relevant criteria of the permitted development regime and is not dissimilar in its outcomes or functionality to the previous hotel approval granted in 2018.

“The approval of this submission will drive forward the applicant’s ambition to have the use established and operational by 2022.”