00:00Hello, I'm Ian Griffin, Deputy Editor of Midlands Business Insider, and I'm here at the top
00:16of the Ottagan Tower in Birmingham, the city's tallest building at 155 metres, and the city's
00:22first skyscraper. I've just attended the topping out ceremony, and I've also heard that this
00:28is the tallest pure octagon-shaped building in the world. So let's hear what some of the
00:34people behind this fantastic development had to say.
00:37Hi, my name's Andy Bushel. I'm a Development Manager at MEPC, and I look after the octagon.
00:44So the octagon sits on the northern edge of the Paradise Master Plan. It wasn't originally
00:50part of the original planning consent. It was a late arrival to the scheme. What it
00:59did, it brought in residential use to the Master Plan. It meant that we could bring
01:07in that night-time economy, and it also gave the opportunity to bring in a different type
01:13of architectural treatment to the scheme as well. We always knew we were going to go tall
01:18on the site, and by going tall, it gave us that responsibility to make sure that we
01:26contributed positively to the Birmingham skyline. I've got to say, what a way to do it, building
01:33the first pure octagonal tower in the world.
01:38Kevin Keegan. I'm a Director of JRL Group. We're the contractors on the octagon. We first
01:46looked at the opportunities that were up and coming in Birmingham about seven or eight
01:50years ago, and we decided that from our southeast base, we should try and take advantage of
01:56some of these opportunities. So we started canvassing for work around the local architects,
02:03developers, and we came across the octagon project with MEPC Hermes, and they were very
02:12kind to give us the opportunity to price it, and we started looking at it probably
02:18about five years ago. We assisted in developing the design. We looked at an alternative way
02:25of building the facade, making it a lightweight aluminium structure, which made the project
02:30viable. We worked really closely with Howells Architects, who created the original concept.
02:38I'm Neil McGinty. I'm the Development Director for City Developments Limited.
02:43They're a Singaporean property developer. I am the lead for UK residential development.
02:50We were introduced to this project in Birmingham pretty close after the COVID lockdown. It was a
02:58period perhaps where developers were holding back on some opportunities, but we really
03:04wanted to be in Birmingham, and an opportunity at Paradise really couldn't have been overlooked.
03:10It would have been absolutely negligent for a developer with our aspirations to be in the big
03:15regional cities not to embrace it. The more we looked at the scheme, the more we loved it.
03:21The iconic architecture, the fabulous apartments, the views, we always knew were going to be
03:27stunning. Working with some tremendous players in Birmingham, Howells are an absolute landmark
03:33architect. Federated Hermes and all the work they've done at Paradise, just great committed
03:40local teams, which is something we're all about and really wanted to be part of.
03:44We started on site probably about three years ago. A landmark project for us, our first project in
03:50Birmingham, and a landmark project for the city. It really is unusual. It's extremely high quality
03:59and it was great for us to have such a high profile project on our books to be able to bring
04:06other clients around and show them what we can do. We actually see ourselves as being specialists
04:12in tall buildings, doing both the structure and the facade and the internal MEP works in-house.
04:22So the height of this building wasn't particularly challenging. It is a very very tight city centre
04:27site with a huge difference in levels across the site. So coming out the ground, which is something
04:33people won't appreciate, was one of the key difficulties here and we've overcome that.
04:40The next key stage for us was getting the mock-up of the facade signed off and Birmingham City
04:47Council planners had some very strong views on the facade and I have to say with hindsight that
04:52some of the things they picked us up on were right and I think if people look at the building today
04:57they will agree that it is a beautifully engineered facade and I think that that
05:02extra bit of effort and people working together has proved worthwhile. We absolutely would do
05:08more in Birmingham. As a business we love iconic buildings, everyone loves iconic buildings
05:16and this certainly is. If the opportunity came up we definitely would be back in Birmingham.
05:21So it's a landmark project for us establishing our city in Birmingham
05:25and we think it gives us a great springboard to move forward from.
05:29There's kind of a fixation in London about how far things are away from London, right? You know
05:34we're always kind of, oh it's an hour and a quarter from London. I would say that, you know, London's
05:38an hour and a quarter away from Birmingham. People should be in Birmingham. Everything that you want
05:44is here and in many ways, you know, it's not a compact city by the stretch of the imagination but
05:50it's very walkable, there's loads of great businesses here, there's loads of great hospitality,
05:56fabulous culture, really warm welcome and a local authority that is very up for
06:02development and growth and attracting business. So it's a great place to be.
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