Most people don’t have hugely strong opinions on urban planning and architecture. That is, until you ask them their thoughts on brutalism.
Even if you don't know what ‘brutalism’ is by name, you’ll know it when you see it – and understand immediately why it’s such a marmite style.
Brutalist buildings began springing up in the ’50s and ’60s, filling our cityscapes with grey concrete. Birmingham is one such city which fell victim to the mid-century architectural trend, and it was hit harder than most.
Centre City Tower, a block of offices on Birmingham’s Hill Street, was once dubbed the ‘ugliest building in Britain’ by photographers and, well, you can sort of see why it’s so controversial. Grey and blocky, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was superimposed onto the town straight from Minecraft.
But this could all soon change. Bruntwood SciTech, the ‘country’s leading developer of city-wide innovation ecosystems’ (otherwise known as a property developer), has begun work on a £4.5 million redevelopment of Centre City Tower.
Bruntwood SciTech will turn this ugly duckling into a beautiful corporate swan. The vision includes rentable co-working spaces, a lounge, and a basement fitness studio. The developers say that they’ll be introducing ‘state-of-the-art workspaces and amenities, enhancing collaboration, wellbeing and social interaction within a prime city centre location’.
The company expects the building’s makeover to be complete sometime early next year, so hopefully you won’t have to wait very long to see what they manage to do with the place.
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