LaSalle Investment Management (“LaSalle”), the global real estate investment manager, has appointed award-winning developer, EDG Property, to start work on transforming a collection of vacant offices into luxury apartments in the heart of Birmingham city centre.

EDG Property, whose award winning portfolio includes The School Yard in Harborne, will convert the former offices on New Street into 19 high specification one and two bedroomed apartments on behalf of Lasalle Investment Management.

Edd Fitch, National Director, LaSalle Investment Management said: “The office to residential conversion of New Street Chambers demonstrates our ability to add value to assets in core locations around the country. We have appointed EDG Property on this project because of its extensive expertise in this area of the market and its ability to create award winning residential apartments.”

Located just yards away from New Street Station and Victoria Square and above ground floor units that include a coffee shop and Office Angels, ‘New Street Chambers’ will offer some of the city’s best located apartments according to EDG director Neil Edginton.

He said: “As the main artery running through the heart of Birmingham, New Street is the city’s most important thoroughfare, so development opportunities like this are incredibly rare.

“New Street has evolved over the years but significant elements of its historic fabric still remain and New Street Chambers offers a unique chance to breathe new life into buildings that date back to a time when Birmingham was emerging as a Victorian powerhouse.

“The city is currently experiencing another golden period in its history with unprecedented investment currently transforming the city centre and this is driving an incredibly buoyant city centre apartment market.

“As well as having a fantastic address, these elegant apartments will be no more than a stone’s throw from Grand Central and John Lewis, the Town Hall and Colmore Row and it is hard to imagine a spot that better encapsulates the opportunities offered by city living in Birmingham.”

Main contractor AOC Contracts has been appointed to deliver the project while the design is by Warwick-based architect Corstorphine + Wright. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2016.

The start on site of New Street Chambers comes as another EDG project, The School Yard in Harborne, has been shortlisted for a RIBA award, the most prestigious award in the property industry.

The second phase of the scheme, which included a zinc-clad development of luxury apartments, has been nominated alongside other West Midland projects including the recently transformed New Street Station and the former Birmingham Assay Office.

The first phase of The School Yard, which saw the transformation of the Grade II listed clock tower in Harborne into a thriving mixed use scheme with restaurants and a cookery school, won an RICS award as well as a Renaissance Award from the Birmingham Civic Society.