Three Snowhill, Birmingham

Creating space for new ways of working

The gateway to Birmingham’s business district, Three Snowhill is not only a distinctive landmark, but will also provide highly flexible working space for potential tenants.

Some have likened the Snowhill development in the heart of Birmingham to London’s Canary Wharf. As a flagship of the city’s regeneration, this ambitious construction programme is vital when it comes to attracting new enterprise and supporting the growth of existing businesses. Three Snowhill – the last and final phase of the scheme – has been consciously designed to accommodate new ways of working.

Project details

Customer: Ballymore Properties
Main contractor: BAM Construction
Concept architect: Sidell Gibson
Executive architect: Weedons
Project manager: Gleeds
Quantity surveyor: Gleeds
M&E, specialist engineering consultant: Arup
Structural engineer: WSP
Projected completion date: 2018
Value: £90 million

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4,000

workers could be accommodated in the spacious offices

tower cranes are being used to construct the building

450

people will be involved in construction

BREEAM

Excellent tartget

The UK’s second largest city, at the geographical heart of the country, Birmingham is undergoing something of a renaissance. Developers Ballymore have played a visionary role in this on-going story of urban transformation. And BAM is playing a vital part in delivering that vision by constructing Three Snowhill: a landmark tower in the very centre of the city.

Three Snowhill is the final element of the Snowhill Plaza: Ballymore’s long-term project. It forms part of Birmingham’s 20-year master plan for redeveloping Snowhill, known as ‘Vision 2030’.

The crash in 2007 cast a long shadow over development activity in the regional office market so it’s great to see confidence finally returning. Three Snowhill was the first speculative Grade A office development to commit in Birmingham post-recession, and will be the only new build available in 2019.”

Richard Probert

Three Snowhill Project Director, Ballymore

BAM is well on track to deliver the 17-story glass-clad structure. The full-height windows – featuring triple-glazed planar glass with solar shading – are designed to take full advantage of spectacular views across the city.

Three Snowhill is targeted to achieve a BREEAM Excellent and an EPC rating of at least ‘B’: no small challenge with its fully glazed façade. To achieve this, the design team is taking a holistic approach to energy efficiency and sustainability, with a particular focus on reducing energy use on site.

The steel-framed tower will eventually provide 32,000 square metre of high quality office space, with retail and café space on the ground floor and two levels of plant room.

Doing the groundwork

The first real challenge for BAM on the project was to remodel the existing five levels of basement and cores which serve all three phases of Snowhill Plaza. Originally constructed a decade previously, these amenity spaces needed to be fundamentally upgraded and prepared for the new generation of high-spec buildings above.

BAM used hydro-demolition to prepare the site: a precision technique that minimises noise and dust pollution. Using targeted high-pressure water jets, the old concrete was demolished leaving the reinforcing steel structures intact.

This essential reconstruction will create new office, leisure and conference space, as well as car parking. But the work put the original schedule back around 20 weeks: time that BAM has been gradually recouping over subsequent stages of the project.

Rooted in the community

Regeneration is never just about buildings. Ultimately it’s all about people. It’s a philosophy that BAM embraces on many of its projects, and Three Snowhill is a prime example.

Under a Section 106 agreement BAM is providing employment opportunities to local people on the project, including some who are returning to the workplace. The company’s commitment to offer jobs and work experience also includes forging strong links with local universities.

Working differently

The way people work is changing radically, with many more of us working flexibly and needing different kinds of space in contrast to traditional office environments.

The Snowhill Plaza development pre-empted this evolution. The first two buildings in the scheme already successfully accommodate new types of working. Three Snowhill will take this flexibility to a new level. The large, open floorplates will be flooded with natural light, creating a contemporary and inspiring working location.

As well as more conventional office layouts, the space is specifically designed to enable agile working, co-working and activity-based working in different environments: whether the tenants need space for conferences, collaboration, relaxation or simply making phone calls.