Sky High Burgage

Posted on March 16, 2009 by John Mostyn

As Digbeth tries to clear it’s collective head after possibly the best St Patrick’s Day ever it is time to look forward once again. Perhaps not only forward but upwards, up 27 stories in fact.

I’ve spent some time reading the BCC release on it’s Mipim site re the proposed Beorma Quarter at the top of Digbeth High St and these couple of paragraphs have caused me to return to this piece again and again:

“In medieval England, enclosed fields extending the confines of a medieval settlement were called burgage plots. The original Birmingham settlement consisted of over 300 burgage plots, of which the seven that remain are all located on the site of Beorma Quarter.

Beorma Quarter

The staggered form of the proposed 27 storey tower has been purposely designed to reflect these remaining burgage plots, with seven defined zones within the building. By extruding in three dimensions, the building is giving a physical form to the original land ownership at the heart of historic Birmingham.”

The Eastside Blog has some handy impressions of the size of the beast.

I can’t help but ask if there might be a better way to “Give a physical form to the original land ownership at the heart of historic Birmingham?”

What say you People of Beorma?

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4 Responses to Sky High Burgage

  1. Dave Harte says:
    March 16, 2009 at 10:33 am

    I wonder if the reference to the Burgage plots and the desire to somehow incorporate them into the design is a way to circumvent any preservation issues that might emerge? Interesting story from Stow-on-the-Wold about planning permission being refused to preserve burgage plots

    Re your point about original land ownership: the area around Corporation street used to be a slum until they ploughed through it in the late 1800s with Chamberlain’s grand vision of a Parisian boulevard. Any chance of a return to that?

  2. Richard Trengrouse says:
    April 1, 2009 at 10:17 am

    I have real mixed feeling on this one. The way into Digbeth from the Bull Ring is just dreadful. Walking down past the Cold Store yesterday I had to step into the road way to avoid the ill mannered people waiting at the bus stops who had no intention of letting me through. The widening of the pavement and the new entry to Digbeth through Orwell passage would be a real plus, the loss of the music hall maybe we have to bare.
    What do we want in Digbeth- the new Rhubarb is a joy but the plans for both the huge site opposite the College and the Smithfield Garage site are low rise blocks of most amazing banality and ignorance. The positive thing about the Credit Crunch is it gives us time to rethink Digbeth. Boermas 27 story block would create a dramatic gateway to the area and hopefully open up the possibility of high quality low rise developments on Coventry Street and Meridan Street as these become major route ways through to the Custard Factory and Fazeley Studios. The renovation of the Cold Store, the wonderfully terrifying Makepeace building, the bookshop and the BVSC building are a big plus.
    The minus to me is not the 27 story block but the two lower blocks which I think lack panache and don’t make a strong enough statement.
    Back to the garden!

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