Brums Cumberland House Set For Reclad

Brums Cumberland House Set For Reclad

Published on 22-12-2009 by Skyscrapernews.com
The planned proposals for the demolition of Birmingham's Cumberland House and erection of a new building in its place appear to have been dropped following a new planning application.

The 64 metre tall sixties tower stands on Broad Street and was set to be replaced by squat design by Aedas Architects but these plans never progressed by the drawing board and the original Cumberland House remains standing today in a state of some dilapidation.

The new application by developer, Office Villages Limited, will see the existing tower converted from offices into a hotel with 285 bedrooms, plus all the usual mod-cons one would expect from such a building like a restaurant and gym. The occupier of the building is set to be Hampton Hotel, which is a three star sub-brand of Hilton Hotels.

The design of the building will remain essentially the same. Cumberland House might be old, but it has a modernist sixties design that with some TLC can be modernized.

With this in the mind, the modifications to the cladding will be minor in visual appearance although the windows will be replaced with double glazing, the black panels on the cladding will be replaced with modern materials of a similar colour, but the transom bars will go and not be updated with a contemporary equivalent.

A big part of the existing building is the squat podium around it in the form of a concrete car park that contributes little to the existing street. New retail units will be added with glazed active frontages that should remove some of the hostility that the present building displays and help animate the street.

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