The School Yard scoops third award

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.”