BDC collapse shakes market
Birmingham’s property market is still coming to terms with the collapse of The Mailbox developer Birmingham Development Company (BDC) and its construction arm BuildAbility (BAL) on Friday. BDC was in the final stages of developing The Cube, an 111,000 sq ft, 23-storey, mixed-use scheme behind The Mailbox. The company’s directors said it called the administrators in after Lloyds refused to fund the project through to completion. A statement from the company read: “It is a sad day for The Cube, an ambitious project for Birmingham, into which we have put five years of our lives.” There had been rumours in the market that the £60m project - designed by Gherkin architect Ken Shuttleworth - had strayed over budget, but few predicted BDC’s collapse. However, contractors were expected to be back at work this morning after being told to leave the site on Friday. Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has been in talks with the development’s stakeholders, said contractors would be paid until the end of the project. The Highways Agency is due to move into 55,000 sq ft offices at the Cube in May, as are the first residential tenants. BDC’s collapse also puts a question mark over future plans for the former Post & Mail building on Colmore Circus, which it bought last summer.
