Architects are being invited to submit plans for a cutting edge Birmingham city centre development as part of a prestigious competition.
The plans would need to safeguard redundant buildings and uncover the hidden River Rea in the Warwick Bar area, which is at the heart of the city's Eastside district.
The regeneration plan is centred on a 1.9 hectares (4.56 acres) site where the Birmingham- to- London Grand Union Canal meets the Digbeth Branch Canal.
The Warwick Bar Conservation Area includes three statutory listed buildings built by the canal company in the 1840s and 50s, and a locally listed canal warehouse from
1935.
The project is being spearheaded by a partnership between Birmingham City
Council and waterside property developer ISIS, who are inviting 35 leading urban design practices from across Europe to masterplan the development.
Six practices will be shortlisted and their concepts judged in November, following a selection process administered by MADE, The Architecture Centre for the West Midlands Region.
Judges have called for ideas that will build on the success of creative industry hubs The Custard Factory and The Bond in the south of Eastside.
The development would also have to be sustainable, a model for future development in Birmingham, and support the existing rich diversity of flora and fauna in Eastside.
ISIS head of regeneration Mike Finkill said: "Warwick Bar is an exceptional waterside location distinguished by its canals, architecture and wildlife.
"The partners' vision is for mixed- use development bringing about a vibrant and animated waterside, and creative and leisure activity for the widest possible range of people.
"Warwick Bar has the potential to deliver a powerful statement of waterside regeneration to the city region and beyond."
The council's cabinet member for regeneration Coun Ken Hardeman (Con Brandwood) said: "Warwick Bar is a key location that will provide economic stability, diversity and vitality. A distinctive and sophisticated creative quarter, linking to the existing regeneration of Eastside.
"The people of Birmingham will benefit from the development of an environmentally sustainable, mixed use, neighbourhood alongside the canal."
