103 Colmore Row - Current Building

Current Building

The current building is a 23 storey structure with entrances on Colmore Row and Newhall Street. Designed by John Madin, it is of the Brutalist style, contrasting the traditional Victorian architectural styles in the immediate area. Although, the pre-cast concrete panels on the exterior, which were common on commercial buildings of the time, rather than in-situ concrete do make the building differ from classic Brutalism.

Designs for the building were first publicised in 1964 and it was remarked that it had drawn inspiration from the University of Pittsburgh by Louis Kahn. The designs showed a two storey banking hall with a rectangular tower with horizontal ribbon windows. It also showed a service tower facing on to Newhall Street. This design differed significantly to the one that was approved by Birmingham City Council. The scheme also included a five storey office block to the west of the site that was separated from it by an L-shaped courtyard. This office block was later reclad and increased to eight storeys in 1996-7 so that it reads as a separate building. The entire scheme was named the "Colmore Centre". The first phase of the scheme, which consisted of the construction of the banking hall, was completed in 1969. Construction of the tower began in 1973 and was completed three years later at a total cost of £3.5 million.

The building was constructed so that it was not purely occupied by the National Westminster Bank but could also be let to tenants so that the bank could maximise the profitability of the site. However, the building proved difficult to let and was never fully occupied with the only major corporation to take office space in the tower was Eversheds. The building has been vacant since 2003.

There are numerous interesting features including the original aluminium-cast banking hall doors, which consist of an abstract triangle design based on the NatWest logo and are painted to resemble bronze. The banking hall itself has a coffered ceiling of plasterboard covered in gold leaf and Travertine marble floors and skirtings. The exterior is covered in abstract plaster murals and bronze matt ceramic tiles. The lift shaft and two ventilation towers are constructed using brick. The structure was constructed of precast concrete with waffle concrete floor slabs. There are four plant floors at the top of the tower and 100 car park spaces in a basement car park that has been left disused upon the discovery of asbestos. The office block was accessed via a stainless steel surround doorway on Newhall Street, where the land begins to drop, exposing the ventilation grills for the basement. The entrance here appears to be of a later date to the rest of the building. The office block has a service core at the centre of each floor, consisting of a large service duct, lavatories, four lift shafts and staircase. The lifts have stainless steel doors and the lift lobby has Travertine panelling on the walls. There is a kitchen on the twentieth floor which retains its original green panels and equipment, such as the dumbwaiter. The NatWest logo was attached to the west side of the building, although has since been removed leaving only the bracketing. It is believed that considerable efforts were made to reduce the cost of the tower's construction, which took place during a time when rising oil prices ended the development boom of the 1960s making an increasingly hostile economic climate. Examples of cost-cutting measures employed during the construction of the building include the use of plasterboard to mimic concrete on the banking hall's ceiling and the use of an alternative metal to bronze for the banking hall doors.

Upon completion, it formed a prominent point on the Birmingham skyline and continues to do so. It is also one of the most modern buildings and the tallest structure in the Colmore Row and Environs Conservation Area, and has become a frequent perching point for the city centre's Peregrine Falcons. Architectural critic Andy Foster described the building as being "the most important Brutalist commercial building in the city, disastrous in context but with its own tremendous integrity."