Birmingham's planning has been held back, says developer
The managing director of the company behind Birmingham’s new Queensgate development has told Insider the city has been “held back” in terms of commercial planning. Mike Coffey, managing director of New Manor Developments, said regeneration rules have been “conservative in terms of height restrictions”. He said he wanted Birmingham’s new 25-storey, £75m tower to “bring life into the city centre”.
New Manor Developments, which submitted plans for the 259-bedroom hotel and 144-bedroom apart-hotel to be included in the building, has an office in Birmingham. The company also has a site in the Jewellery Quarter which is currently undergoing construction. However, Coffey said that height restrictions have hindered plans for development in the past.
Coffey said: “One of my bugbears is that the planners have held back Birmingham in terms of the architecture of commercial developments. We felt that plans were far too conservative in terms of height restrictions.”
However, Coffey said that recently there has been a shift in attitude.
“We were previously offered planning permission for a building eight or nine storeys high. But now, planners are encouraging tall buildings, which is good for developers.”
New Manor Developments, an associated company of Manor Park Developments, has taken advantage of the banks’ unwillingness to lend to begin the project.
“We have two offers of development funding, not through traditional means, but down the venture capital route," said Coffey. “The banks are not funding traditional development, they are just not there – and I don’t think they’re going to be there [to provide funding] anytime soon.”
Prior to purchasing the land on which the Queensgate development will be built, Coffey said the company had been “searching Birmingham for a site for the past five years”.
“There’s a definite shortage of hotel bedrooms in Birmingham," said Coffey. “We searched for a site, and a couple of potential sites fell through, having spent quite a lot of money on them.”
The site which Queensgate will be developed on is Birmingham’s "Bond Street" next to the Mailbox and recently-completed Cube development.
And Coffey said his company has further plans for the regeneration of Birmingham.
“We have an office here, and we intend to be in the city for the next 20 years," he said. “We’re steering clear of residential property development, as it’s such a bad time. We’re focusing primarily on the commercial sites.”
He also revealed how he’d like to change the look of Birmingham’s commercial properties.
“One of my bugbears is brick as a finishing material," he said. “We need to allow local, talented architects to experiment with high quality materials rather than sticking to the traditional brick surfaces.”
