Contractor appointed for third steel-framed Snowhill tower

Bam has been appointed preferred contractor on Ballymore’s £90M Three Snowhill office scheme in Birmingham.

The scheme is the third and final phase of Ballymore’s 96,000m² development in a core part of the Snowhill area of central Birmingham.

The Three Snowhill steel-framed office building replaces a previous plan for the site by Ballymore to build a 137m-high, 43-storey residential tower and accompanying 25-storey five-star hotel, which won planning permission in 2007 but was mothballed in 2010 following the credit crunch.

The new project is targeting a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. WSP is structural engineer, Arup is MEP consultant, Gleeds is project surveyor and the project architect is Weedon.

Construction is expected to start in September and complete in the first quarter of 2018.

Ballymore Project Director Richard Probert said: “Three Snowhill is the final component in what has become a landmark gateway development for our city.”

Birmingham’s Snowhill area is at the forefront of rapid commercial expansion across the city centre, with the city boosted by the planned arrival of HS2. Birmingham City council has earmarked Snowhill for £600M of development work in a 20-year masterplan for the area launched in February, with the aim of creating a Canary Wharf-style commercial district.

Opened in 2013, steel for Snowhill 2 was erected by Caunton Engineering and the steel-framed Snowhill One was in completed in 2010.