Changing skylines and waistlines as city drives growth
CHANGING skylines and waistlines have been making the headlines this week as the region continues to stay – mostly – on track with its ambitions.
In what would be a major jobs boost, hundreds of roles could be relocated to Birmingham by HS2 Ltd . Staff are being consulted about moving from London, to join the organisation’s construction arm which is already based at Two Snowhill.
Also moving up from London is restaurant group Gaucho, which is taking space in Wragge’s former HQ on Colmore Row , while rodizio restaurant Viva Brazil is launching a city centre site after spending £1.2m refurbishing its Bennetts Hill site.
The value of the food and drink sector was demonstrated with the sale of Central Coffee, a Warwickshire business operating 10 Costa coffee shops for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
However, not all firms are in growth mode. Coventry engineering firm PowerKut closed its doors this week, with the loss of 31 jobs, after being forced to appoint administrators. Law firm DLA Piper announced plans to cut 23 jobs at its Birmingham office as part of 200 redundancies after a UK-wide review of its business support functions, which will see its operations relocated to Warsaw, Poland.
Individual wrongdoings also caught the headlines, with three people starting jail sentences for financial crimes.
A former Deutsche Bank managing director and an accountant who had been Sir Philip Green’s finance director at Topshop were found guilty of insider trading . A Financial Conduct Authority investigation found Martyn Dodgson and Andrew Hind had generated £7.4m profits from trades involving just six firms, including Solihull-based Paragon Group.
In a separate case, a senior Rolls Royce manager was jailed for two years and eight months after defrauding the Sutton Coldfield sports club where he was treasurer . Jeffrey Hampson, who earned £50,000 a year working for a Rolls Royce subsidiary, transferred £217,000 to his own accounts, which he used to fund his online share trading.
By the time his sentence is finished, Birmingham’s skyline will have changed again. Demolition work on the Natwest Tower is continuing , with the tower now no longer visible from Broad Street and Centenary Square, while views of the building from St Philip’s Square and Newhall Street have been considerably diminished.
It is being replaced by a £60m development that will deliver 211,000 sq ft of Grade A office space, ready for the demand that the city is building up.
