Phase two of The School Yard hits key milestone

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.”