The Rotunda, Birmingham

THE BUILDING

Arguably Birmingham's most famous building, the Rotunda - a 1960’s cylindrical office block - is both an important landmark and, to overuse an already overused word, iconic. It’s recent multi-million pound refurbishment has both enhanced its already substantial reputation and its status as one of the most significant buildings in a significant city.

The first recorded use of the site - 150 New Street, to give it the proper address - was as a cattle market in 1154. The city centre has been modified a number of times since then, including receiving a number of unfriendly visits from the Luftwaffe during WWII. The cylindrical tower of the Rotunda was constructed (during 1961 - 1965) as part of the post-war rebuilding of the Bull Ring, and was intended to be used as an office block.

The architect realised early on that the original 12 storey design would look ‘stumpy’, so the height was increased to 25 storeys, but initially was not well received, variously being described by local residents and architectural critics as ‘ugly’, ‘awkward’ and a ‘dead building’. There were even plans to have a revolving restaurant on the top floor - in the style of the BT (formerly Post Office) Tower in London, ironically opened with a telephone call to the Mayor of Birmingham in October 1965 - but these were scrapped after the shell was built. So it remained an underused building with oddly shaped floor spaces while the surrounding area succumbed to the cultural vandalism that passed for development in the 1960’s and it slid inexorably toward the need for regeneration.

There were various plans to simply demolish the Rotunda during the late 1970’s and 80’s, but oddly there was sustained opposition to them - clearly the locals had taken the building to their hearts. So it remained, gently decaying and sporting a huge illuminated advertisement on the roof until it became a central part of the Bull Ring redevelopment that began in 2004.

DESIGNING FOR THE FUTURE

The 81m (265ft) tower was listed Grade II in 2000, which obliged the developers to take close account of the historical, cultural and social significance of the building - in this case not all of them positive, as one of the IRA bombings in the city 1974 was a pub on the ground floor of the Rotunda. After extensive consultations the decision was made to convert the old offices into more than 230 stylish apartments that embody the concept of ‘urban chic’, including six 20th floor penthouse suites that were sold before a brick had been laid.

There are 14 apartments on each floor, all roughly wedge shaped, surrounding the central service core - due to its proximity to a railway tunnel, when the building was first constructed the main load was built on to a twin ring of piled foundations directly beneath the circular structural core. Each floor of the building has a range of apartment types, all with innovative, bespoke full height glazing that can be opened creating internal ‘Juliet’ balconies, and the designers have used the platform on which the building is based to provide the residents with communal and private gardens, creating ‘a haven of tranquil peace in the heart of the city.’

The central core houses the lifts and stairwells, with kitchens and bathrooms in the next zone, and the outer circle mainly living space, benefiting from the reinstated floor to ceiling windows. In addition to the amazing panoramic views, the apartments will also have underground parking and a futuristic reception/concierge area.

The complete change of function in the interior meant that all the original electrical services had to be removed and this gave the developers the opportunity to chose the best of modern design for the replacements. Competition for this, and the other interior services, was intense and the developers assured potential buyers and investors that only the very best of everything would be used. In choosing the supplier for the electrical accessories, the developers had to ensure that the material supplied would not only be exactly the right combination of style and functionality but also cost effective.

Despite stiff competition GET were able to secure the supply of all the electrical accessories for the project.

THE CONSTRUCTION

The £25m conversion was carried out by a group consisting of The Birmingham Alliance (a partnership between Hammerson plc, the Pearl Group Ltd and Land Securities plc, the developers of Birmingham’s Bullring and Martineau Place, Europe's largest city centre regeneration project), with developers Urban Splash and architects Glenn Howells, working in consultation with James Roberts, the original architect.

“I can’t wait to see it after the refurbishment,” said James, adding “what the architects have done to the building has been excellent.” He also explained that the building had originally been intended to look like a candle, with a flame-like beacon on top, changing colour to reflect the weather - feature which was sadly not included in the the regeneration design. Glenn Howells’ work on the Rotunda earned them the RIBA Housing Design Award 2005 and was featured in the Exhibition of Excellence at the same awards.

The urban location - next to the Bull Ring, near Selfridges and close to the soon-to-be refurbished New Street Station - made the project difficult for Briggs & Forrester, the contractor, with problems of access and public safety impacting on timescales on more than one occasion, including one alarmingly windy day in 2006 when a pane of glass fell all the way to the ground. Nobody was hurt, but the area had to be closed and the use of certain types of equipment in windy conditions had to be considered.

Such was the popularity of the development - a mixture of ‘city pads’, plus one and two bedroom units - that the final 92 apartments were sold within hours of coming on the market - a record-breaking two-hour sales frenzy in October 2005, for which keen purchasers camped out overnight to try and secure their very own slice of Birmingham.

With the original building costing £1m (around £20m today), the refurbishment required most of the solid exterior walls to be removed and replaced with the acres of glass that allow modern, minimalist city centre apartments to take best advantage of the vistas and feeling of space that comes from high quality living. The façade now consists of floor-to-ceiling height glass panes, each placed at 5° to the neighbouring window, part of a sophisticated cladding system in which opening window segments slid sideways to fit flush into the façade, like an airliner’s door. The large expanse of glass was part of the original design for the office suites, but was dropped on grounds of cost before construction was completed - hardly a surprise with more than 1,500 sheets of toughened glass on the shopping list.

COMPLETION

The architect chose the Ultimate Screwless range from GET plc who was able to provide all the electrical accessories for the whole development over a 12 month period. The interiors live up to the intended standards of modern design, with integrated kitchen and bathroom units, wall mounted panel heaters, CCTV entry phones and broadband access throughout. The stylish, minimalist range - in white, to compliment the décor and feel of the new apartments - included all the wiring accessories, plus data, telephone and TV outlets and some bespoke products that were created specifically to meet the requirements of the designers.

“We provided exactly what the architects needed in terms of both style and solutions at a competitive price,” said Simon Laugharne, specification engineer at GET. “The ‘wow’ is in the way the products have helped a traditional building become chic by providing sleek, understated styling and reliable products with a flawless safety record,” he added. “Things have to work properly as well as look good.”

Two hi-tech LED illuminations were installed at the top of the building in early 2007, continuing the use of the building’s height to spread a message across the city, but they have since been removed to make way for a ‘light box’, approved by Birmingham City Council late in 2007.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Designers Urban Splash believes in converting and re-using rather than demolishing and re-building - ‘keeping what’s good and improving what’s not’. They believe this uses less energy and leaves less mess - and they have applied this principle to the Rotunda. They use locally generated power that doesn’t get lost in transmission and insist on having ‘green grass in parks where you can sit with your face in the sun’, as well as state-of-the-art insulation and the most energy efficient electrical systems on the market.

THE FUTURE

Reinvented and rejuvenated, Rotunda will be a new beacon for the city and the final piece of the Bull Ring jigsaw. Prices ranged from around £150,000 for a ‘city pad’ to nearly £500,000 for a penthouse - but every one has now been sold, many as investment properties or as serviced pied-à-terre for visiting business people.

“It's got the X factor; it's iconic; it's THE address in Birmingham. It's very, very exciting. You have all the amenities here with amazing shopping centres,” said one of the proud owners of a new apartment in the block. “It's classy, it's very calm in the evenings compared to the noise of, say, Broad Street. It is a very comfortable place to live indeed.”

“We've been bowled over by people's enthusiasm. We love working with buildings like this - really iconic buildings - and the response has been brilliant”, said Lisa Ashurst of developers Urban Splash. “The architect loved the panoramic views and cylindrical design of Rotunda so much that he has designed cylindrical towers based on the Rotunda for future developments.”

Some object to this new suit of clothes for the Rotunda, but the city centre is getting bold new skyscraper homes as Birmingham is rediscovering city-centre living. A small poem engraved into the wall of the Bullring Shopping Centre best sums up the building which now towers over the newly created Rotunda Square:

Rotunda,
Some wanted you round,
Some wanted you square,
Still there

The Rotunda is the latest in a growing series of prestigious projects that have chosen GET products - often the ultra-modern Ultimate range - to compliment and enhance the design and functionality requirements of their buildings.