Birmingham apartment scheme given the go ahead by planners

Plans for a new apartment scheme on the site of a former factory and warehousing in Birmingham have been given the go ahead.

Fortnum Group is now set to build a multi-level block comprising 141 apartments on the former Westminster Works on the corner of Alcester Street and Cheapside, Digbeth.

The site is somewhat irregular in shape because an adjoining two storey hot food shop and other buildings in the block could not be acquired by the developer.

However, the buildings which have been acquired by the developer will now be demolished and replaced with a five to seven storey block accommodating the apartments, along with associated car parking.

The apartments will be a mixture of 80 one bed and 61 two-bed apartments. Of the 110 on-site parking spaces, 56 will be reserved for the use by the Paragon Hotel, which is on the opposite corner to the proposed development and which is currently using the site for its parking needs.

The proposed blocks would surround the car parking which would be over two levels – 73 spaces at the lower level, 37 on the open air upper level.

Planners had said the wider Digbeth area could be considered as one in a state of transition, with a broad trend of commercial and industrial uses being replaced with residential schemes.

They said the proposed development offered a high quality residential scheme within the city’s southern gateway area and was a good use of a former brownfield site.