Plans for a four-star hotel in one of Birmingham’s most central locations have been released.

Paradise Circus developer Argent has released the images of plans to replace the existing Copthorne Hotel as part of the wide-ranging city centre regeneration initiative.

This comes after Birmingham City Council reached an agreement with Copthorne, which withdrew its opposition to compulsory purchase orders along with Birmingham City University, the owner of the Conservatoire, last week.

The hotel design follows an architectural competition which saw London and Edinburgh based Ian Springford Architects (ISA) chosen from seven architectural practices who had submitted their designs.

It comes after Argent’s proposals for the area received planning consent from Birmingham City Council late last year.

Ian Springford, joint founder of ISA, said: “Our work in the hotel sector demonstrates our ability to deliver complex, highly serviced buildings with strong design qualities. We are looking forward very much to bringing this experience and creativity to our work in Birmingham.”

The design of the hotel has evolved since the competition through continuous consultation with Millennium and Argent - who have taken the Paradise Circus proposals through outline planning that agreed basic massing and building heights for the development that is set to transform this strategically important and historic part of the city.

David Partridge, managing partner of Argent, said: ‘’We were introduced to Ian by Millennium and Copthorne Hotels plc and it was clear from Ian’s submission for the competition that he had extensive knowledge and expertise of the hotel market.

“Ian and his team are developing an innovative design which fits in very well with the rest of the development.

“They are a pleasure to work with and we look forward to taking the hotel design through to completion.”