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Exciting new home for Birmingham Irish Club
By Elaine Sheridan
 A
multi-million pound makeover is planned for Digbeth in Birmingham, breathing
new life into the city’s run-down Irish quarter.
The £150million transformation of the area was given the green light
by city planners this week.
Irish developers The Naus Group have been awarded the task of developing
Connaught Square — a 4.5acre site fronting High Street Deritend,
next to the Coach Station.
And work is due to commence the middle of next year.
Key to the plans will be a new, state-of-the-art Irish centre, which will
replace the existing premises on High Street Deritend.
The scheme will also include 631 apartments, 180-bedroom hotel, shops,
offices, bars, restaurants and more than 1,000 much-needed car parking
spaces.
A pedestrian boulevard will be carved through the centre of the development
providing access to two new public squares.
Chairman of the Irish Centre Mike Nangle expressed his delight at the
announcement and believes it heralds exciting times ahead for the Irish
community in Birmingham.
He said: “We still retain the freehold while The Naus Group builds
us a state-of-the-art, modern home for the Irish centre.
“When the building is completed we are hoping it will attract the
younger second and third-generation who wouldn’t ordinarily visit
this very tired 1960s centre as it stands now.
“We look forward to exciting times ahead for all concerned and hope
that most people in the community will benefit from such an extensive
development.”
Centre management is now in talks with various other organisations to
make arrangements for activities to continue with minimum disruption while
the development is under way.
 The
project is expected to take over two years to complete.
Chair of the Irish Quarter Partnership Pat O’Neill said: “The
name itself is a very positive start and fits nicely with the theme.
“No doubt the history of the Irish in Birmingham will be enhanced
through this fantastic development.”
Naus plans to build six individually designed contemporary buildings,
of between four and seven storey and rising to 10 storeys, to house a
hotel and sky bar.
Most of the buildings at the site have already been demolished in preparation
for the imminent development.
The Grade II listed White Swan public house is adjacent to the site and
will be sympathetically integrated into the scheme.
The decision marks Naus’ first entry into British property after
more than 30 years of development in Ireland.
Naus UK chief executive Andy Tollett said the decision would kick-start
the next phase of Digbeth’s regeneration.
He said: “High Street Deritend is one of the principal arteries
into and out of the city.
“At present, it is nothing but a line of run-down buildings despite
being just a few metres from the iconic Selfridges building.
“This is not much of a welcome mat for those entering Birmingham
from the airport.
“Our aim is to create a destination site to the east of the city,
in much the same way Brindleplace has created a waterfront destination
site to the west.” |
