The refurbishment and expansion of an historic Birmingham building has reached a key milestone, as its iconic façade was unveiled after 15 months of restoration.
The scaffolding was removed by our site team at Birmingham’s Grade A listed Belmont Works – a former cycle factory – which has stood derelict since being gutted by fire in 2007.
The façade of the building in the city’s Eastside has been a key landmark of the area since 1899 and our North Midlands and Yorkshire region started work on restoring and expanding the building in February 2020.
When complete it will be home to Birmingham City University’s STEAMhouse which will serve as a collaborative space for businesses, academics and creative partners to work together on new business ideas, concepts and creations, bringing together traditional technical disciplines, alongside art and design.
There are also plans for part of the building to form a new home for the university’s School of Computing and Digital Technology.
STEAMhouse provides access to a range of facilities and teaching spaces for students from within the School from the start of the 2022 academic year, while learners from across the university will also be able to access its spaces and facilities and collaborate with the building’s users.
B+K Regional Director, Steve Chambers, said: “It is wonderful to be able to unveil the building and reveal the work that has been done to restore the façade. This marks a significant milestone in the delivery of STEAMhouse and is testament to the hard work, dedication and teamwork by everyone involved through a very challenging 18 months.”
Professor Julian Beer, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Birmingham City University, said: “Reaching this milestone is not just a real landmark for the development of our STEAMhouse project, but also for the changing landscape of our city’s Eastside
“It is a credit to all that despite the complexity of the project, and the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic that all partners involved in the project have been able to make such significant progress.
“As the region enters its recovery from the impact of the last 18 months, projects like STEAMhouse are essential to ensuring we provide a platform for new business, the creation of jobs and the generation of growth”
Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) has helped fund the project through £1 million of Local Growth Funding and £14 million from the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, also managed by the GBSLEP.