Developers behind the multi-million pound revamp of Birmingham’s Smallbrook Queensway have been told their proposed 26-storey residential block could be taller.

The plans to overhaul the 1960s-built Ringway Centre were welcomed by planning committee members during a preview briefing by developer Commercial Estates Group (CEG).

There was also support for the removal of the “horrendous” concrete link bridge over Hurst Street and construction of a major residential tower on the corner following demolition work.

Last month, the committee kick-started a review of the council’s 13-year-old skyscraper policy with a proposal that taller buildings should be permitted after it gave the go ahead for a new 270-foot Bloc Hotel nearby on Hill Street.

And now committee member Coun Barry Henley (Lab Brandwood) said: “The tower is quite elegant and will fit very well in that particular setting and could even be higher.”

He was, however, critical of the placing of two extra floors on the sweeping lower level office blocks which run from Hurst Street up to the Bullring end of Smallbrook Queensway.

“The two floors put on the top make it monolithic and poorly proportioned,” he said.

“It’s massive, dominating. It’s gone top heavy.”

He suggested some small changes to make it look like several buildings put together or setting back.

The only substantial criticism came from Coun Fiona Williams (Lab Hodge Hill) who chairs the council’s conservation and heritage panel.

She opposed the recladding of the sweeping block altogether, saying: “This is one generation’s architecture being removed.

“I can’t see why we can’t maintain the façade.

“It is an icon of the city that it is being demolished and got rid of,” she said.

Smallbrook Queensway: link bridge over Hurst Street.

But Coun Gareth Moore (Con Erdington) took a different view.

He said: “I would rather it was all demolished, it is ugly.

“I’m glad the bridge is going, it is horrible to walk under.

“It is a hideous building it needs to go.”

Others also supported the removal of the bridge.

Their comments followed a presentation by CEG as it develops final plans for the Ringway Centre.

They said that demolition and rebuild, or a refurbishing the existing offices as residential apartments, had been looked at but thought not economically viable.

So they have settled on the removal of the bridge element and scaling back the building and re-cladding it for office uses, along with the construction of the landmark residential tower on the corner with Hurst Street.

A spokesman said: “We have struggled to attract tenants.

“From the end of January, when Network Rail vacates the building, office occupancy will be at 20 per cent.

“This development will provide high-quality buildings befitting its location in the city centre and regenerating Smallbrook Queensway.

“Without this, the buildings will suffer.”

He added: “Removing the bridge will help to reconnect Chinatown and Southside with the area around New Street station.”

Smallbrook Queensway
Smallbrook Queensway

There is opposition to the redevelopment from campaign group Brutiful Birmingham which fights to defend the city’s post-war architecture.

Writing in the Birmingham Post last week, spokeswoman Mary Keating said: “It just needs smartening up.

“As for the bridge link over Hurst Street, you would be forgiven for asking ‘How did that get there?’.

“In the middle of the two magnificent arms of the Ringway Centre, it appears to neither complement them nor tune with their style.

“But take a closer look at the artistry of the concrete panels and the delicacy of the windows of the Ringway Centre and imagine how international and sophisticated this would look with the uplighters functioning and the shop fronts improved.”