£120m development approved to regenerate 2.5-acre brownfield site
Plans have been unanimously approved by Birmingham City Council for a £120m development on Gooch Street North.
Following a deferral from the planning committee last December, there were concerns over noise and the safeguarding of The Fox pub and The Nightingale.
The plans by BPG will regenerate a 2.5-acre brownfield site that will house 775 people in 456 one and two-bedroom apartments across seven to 12 storeys, alongside 5,500 sq ft of commercial floor space, a private courtyard and a 7,000 sq ft garden terrace.
Twenty-six parking spaces will be constructed within the basement alongside 160 cycle parking spaces with an additional 250 on the ground floor.
The council said that not opening windows is not a satisfactory resolution of the noise issues and therefore the issue needed to be explored further.
The applicants have decided to seal 49 units facing the pub to mitigate noise. In the case that there is sound defractional grazing around corners of the development, the fourth floor will be tested to ensure there isn’t an issue.
The amendments will cost £200k and this cost will be reduced from the budget set aside for affordable housing, meaning the number of units classed as affordable will reduce from 44 to 40.
There is also an application on 16 Kent Street which also has agent changes. The council said regardless of which development is brought forward first, either this development or the Kent Street development will undergo the work to mitigate noise.
No development will occur until the noise mitigation is confirmed following a section 106 agreement.
