Baskerville House - Renovation

Renovation

Formerly offices for parts of Birmingham City Council, including the Planning Department and Economic Development Department, the Grade II listed building. remained vacant for several years after the City Council vacated the property in the spring of 1998. The initial refurbishment plan proposed conversion to a Radisson Edwardian Hotel. A feasibility study into whether it was possible to locate the Central Library was carried out, and the building was deemed to not be suitable as it would not be strong enough to hold all the books.

The building was subsequently sold to Targetfollow who proposed to convert into offices. This was approved and it was completely gutted and extended two floors upwards to provide office space on seven floors, and a health club in the basement. Work started in August 2003 and was completed in early 2007 at an estimated cost of £30 million. There is 195,108 sq ft (18,126.1 m2) of office space within the building with floorplates of 27,000 sq ft (2,500 m2). The two new floors are of steel and glass. A lighting scheme was added to the exterior by Hoare Lea Lighting of the Hoare Lee group who were also commissioned for other aspects of the build.

The building won the Commercial Development of the Year award at the Midlands Property Week awards in July 2007. The building also won the Midlands and East Anglia regional award in the Refurbished/Recycled Workplace category at the British Council for Offices awards in October 2007.

A statue of King Edward VII was moved to a plinth near the South-West corner of the building in November 2010.