Author Archives: Kate

The stunning exterior of the second phase of the award-winning School Yard scheme is beginning to emerge as the project heads towards completion later this year.

The multi-million pound scheme in Harborne is being clad in anthracite zinc – a first for a residential development of this size in Birmingham – with the eight-week zinc construction set to be complete by the end of July.

The 13 residential units – which include one, two and three bedroomed apartments and a townhouse – have been designed by Jewellery Quarter-based Bryant Priest Newman and have all already been sold to individual buyers.

EDG Property director Neil Edginton said the cladding marked an exciting new period for the development, which had been designed to work sensitively with the first phase of the scheme.

He said: “Creating extraordinary rather than ordinary buildings is what EDG Property is about and we feel that second phase of The School Yard is almost more important than the first because it is about creating something new that is sensitive to its surroundings rather than converting something that existed already.

“Bryant Priest Newman is one of the city’s most innovative architects and the application of zinc cladding will create a stunning finish on what are fantastically appointed apartments.

“The process itself is not necessarily a difficult one although it can be time-consuming as the fabricated zinc is bent to shape on site so it is more of a craft than other cladding systems.

“The guys who are carrying out the work do all of the fabrication on site, so it’s a much more crafted finish than manufactured, which again ties in the Listed elements in the first phase of the scheme.

“In total the cladding of the whole building will take around eight weeks so should be complete by the end of July. The roof has also now been completed and while there is still some external timber-work to finish, the major part of the project is now the internal fit out which we are hoping to have complete by mid-autumn.”

The countdown has begun for the grand unveiling of an art project that will give visitors to The Cube a real hoot – and help raise £250,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

From July 20 more than 90 5ft 5in specially decorated owls will go on display across Birmingham as part of the Big Hoot art trail.

Companies across the city have paid £6,000 each to sponsor an owl and each one is currently being decorated to the sponsor’s specification from 150 different possible designs.

There will be two owls gracing The Cube when the project is launched in late July as the owners of the building have sponsored one as has Marco Pierre White’s restaurant on the 25th floor.

Not surprisingly, for our owl at The Cube, we have chosen a design called Mr Architect – designed by Southampton-based artist Sam Pierpoint – which incorporates elements from key landmarks across the city including The Cube’s instantly recognisable gold cladding.

The project by arts specialists Wild at Art has really caught the imagination of the city and has even received the backing of one of Birmingham’s most famous sons Ozzy Osbourne whose son Louis was treated at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Working with Retail Birmingham, Ozzy has produced his own design for an owl that will be unveiled at an unknown location on July 20.

EDG Property director Neil Edginton, Tristan Capital’s joint venture partner on The Cube, and also chair of the Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said the response to the appeal had been overwhelming.

He said: “The children’s hospital is a real jewel in the city’s crown and that is recognised by the city’s businesses who relentlessly show their support by raising the essential funds for the hospital.

“Year after year we continue to be surprised at the generosity of this city and just this month we have a sports day organised by DLA and the Weslyan’s Big Bandage event which will generate more funds for the hospital’s Magnolia House appeal, to help build a facility that will support families at the hospital.

“The Big Hoot has been such a great idea and to get 90 different organisations involved has been nothing short of sensational.

“I’m really excited about the big reveal on July 20 and seeing Mr Architect take pride of place at The Cube for the rest of the summer.”

For more information on the Big Hoot please visit www.thebighoot.co.uk

The first phase of EDG Property’s The School Yard development has won a third award for its successful reinvigoration of a much-loved building in the heart of Harborne in Birmingham.

The project to transform the school building and its surrounds into a commercially successful mixed use scheme won the Commercial Project of the Year Award at the RICS awards held at the Town Hall in Birmingham.

The award is the second in as many months for the project after it was given 2014 Birmingham Civic Society Renaissance Award when the judges said the project had “enlivened Harborne High Street and given it a new lease of life.”

For the RICS award, the judges praised the sensitive nature of the conversion of the Grade II listed former school building, which dates back to 1891.

They said: “EDG Property have successfully converted the buildings to form a vibrant leisure destination around an open square, attracting national operators such as Prezzo and Boston Tea Party.

“The project has successfully taken a disused building and turned it into a commercially viable whilst retaining the original character of the buildings.”

The second phase of 13 residential units including one, two and three bedroom apartments and a town house designed by Bryant Priest Newman is now under way and due for completion before the end of the year.

EDG Property director Neil Edginton said he hoped the completed scheme would be as well received, not just by property professionals such as the RICS and conservation groups but, most importantly, by the people who live and work in that part of the city.

He said: “From the very outset we knew the stakes were high because the clock tower is such an iconic feature of Harborne and there was significant interest from numerous parties who would have liked the opportunity to bring the building back to life.

“We had a vision for the scheme that was about making something that was not only commercially viable but also critically retained the community aspect and we believe we have delivered that with the Harborne Food School and the other lettings.

“To win a third award is testament to a great team who have delivered this project over the past three years and also to the people of Harborne who we have consulted closely with from day one and in return they have given us fantastic support and hopefully this is a development of which they can all be proud.”

Work is set to begin on an exciting new phase of work at Fort Dunlop that will play a key part in transforming the iconic building.

The 300,000 sq ft mixed use building was acquired last summer by a fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners, in partnership with EDG Property, and the new owners have already been busy on various external works including a complete rebranding and upgrading its car parking offer.

A series of works are planned over the next couple of years to significantly upgrade the building – which is home to almost 3,000 workers and businesses such as Capita and Trinity Mirror Midlands – and the next phase will see £380,000 spent on redeveloping the main atrium space.

EDG Property founder Neil Edginton, said this was an important part of the overall vision as it was the most visible part of the building.   He said: “Urban Splash did a great job at Fort Dunlop and brought back to life one of the region’s most recognisable buildings after more than two decades standing idle, but this is the next phase in a really exciting new chapter for the building.”

“The aim is to create an entrance befitting of an office building that boasts an impressive roster of tenants from the NHS to Capita to Trinity Mirror and businesses with client bases that include some of the world’s biggest corporations.”

“We want to introduce more light into the space and we have also moved the management office to a different floor to improve the F&B offer and we are very close to securing a fantastic new tenant which I know will be welcomed by everyone in the building.”

For all enquiries please contact EDG Property on 0121 654 9494.

EDG Property has established a new construction arm to build out the second phase of its award-winning School Yard development in Birmingham.

EDG Build has initially been created to build out the new homes in the Harborne scheme but director Neil Edginton said it also reflected the aspirations of EDG Property.

He said: “The speed of sales at The School Yard has surprised even us and all 13 of the properties have all be sold off plan, so the most important thing is that we are able to deliver the project to our customer’s satisfaction.”

“The construction market is incredibly hot at the moment and good contractors who can take on a job of this nature and deliver it on time and on budget are quite difficult to come by, so we decided that creating our own main contractor arm was a sensible step.”

“Also we have significant aspirations to move on to even larger projects both in the Midlands and further afield and EDG Build means we can establish a team that we trust and who have bought into the EDG philosophy.  Ultimately we will have much tighter control on our projects going forward.”

EDG Build has already made a number of senior appointments including Gareth Edwards who has joined as commercial director from Faithful & Gould and Lee Williams who has been appointed as site manager.

Phase 2 of the School Yard – which will see a mix of apartments, duplexes and a townhouse constructed over 37 weeks and to be completed this Autumn – follows the successful completion of Phase 1 which included the refurbishment of adjoining school buildings that have become a coffee shop, restaurants and community food school.

The first phase recently won a Birmingham Civic Society 2014 Renaissance Award where EDG Property was praised for “fully embracing” the heritage of the original School Yard building and its Grade II-listed clock tower while creatively bringing back to modern and interesting uses.

Judges said the bars and restaurants, which had taken space at the development, had “enlivened Harborne High Street and given it a new lease of life”.