Foundations laid for £75m West Bromwich offices
Builders began digging the footings for the foundations of a new £75million office scheme in West Bromwich yesterday.
In one of the town’s biggest building projects seen in the last 30 years, construction company Bowmer and Kirkland are now working on a five-storey office block (141,000 sq ft) on All Saints Way for BT Liberata, an IT services company. About 450 staff will be based there once the office block is complete. The BT building will include a central atrium looking out onto a new public square that is also being built.
Developers Stoford are behind the scheme and have high hopes for the £75m All Saints project. All Saints, at the junction of the A41 Expressway and Cronehills Linkway on a 7 acre site, is part of a wider regeneration of West Bromwich town centre which has already seen the construction of The Public and will also see the complete overhaul of the local retail facilities. Stoford are ensuring that these new buildings comply to the BREEAM Excellent rating for office space. BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings.
Jon Andrews, Stoford Director, said: “This landmark development is just the start of a mighty ongoing office building programme to regenerate West Bromwich as a prime business location.”
“Designed to the highest sustainable standards in an attractive mixed-use environment and with rents of less than £20 per sq ft compared with over £30 per sq ft in central Birmingham, the accommodation should prove irresistible to companies looking to relocate to a bright, easily accessible, modern setting.”
Sandwell Metropolitan Council is heavily behind the new office development. Fred Lynch, CEO, Transform Sandwell, said: “The building of the regional business centre is a real demonstration of how BT contributes to economic regeneration within the Borough. It will be a strikingly modern ‘green’ office space and will also bring much needed economic activity to an important part of this area.”
Meanwhile, final details are being put together for the planning application for a separate office block next door to BT that will be home to West Bromwich Building Society. The Society plans to relocate 450 head office staff to the new All Saints development by early 2012. The firm is expected to take 70,000 sq ft of the 270,000 sq ft site. Having agreed in principle to lease the floor space, the Society is looking to leave it’s current head office on West Bromwich High Street where it has been based for over 30 years.
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