Broadway Plaza
October 2003

Following on from the completion of ?The Light? project in Leeds, DLG Architects, are now preparing for the opening of another major mixed use development, ?Broadway Plaza? in Birmingham.

The Plaza, is close to Broad Street and Brindley Place on the main Birmingham drag, and has been modelled in scale, on London?s Covent Garden Piazza.  It will provide a lively mix of leisure, retail and residential uses, including a Multiplex Cinema, Health Club, Bowling Alley, Restaurants and over 100 apartments.

DLG Partner Julian Monaghan acknowledges that such a varied tenant mix can bring its own difficulties.  ?A particular challenge, was the horizontal layering of the development, which required innovative solutions for the structure and elevations, in order to ensure that all the tenants were given the space they required?. 

The project is another good example of the Practice?s innovative approach to inner city development.  As Leeds Partner Andrew Gardner notes.  ?The Practice has amassed experience in all fields of design and development since it was first established over thirty years ago.  Our knowledge, for example, of retail, residential, leisure and office markets is now allowing us to really understand how to put together workable mixed use developments, and how these can be knitted into existing city landscapes?.

The office currently has further exciting projects ?on the drawing board? which range from large city centre ?Masterplanning? exercises and Retail developments, through to Industrial warehousing complexes, Rural Business Parks and Residential projects.  Diversity is the key.  DLG has, for example, just completed a most unusual Business Park in Tewkesbury which, as well as providing new office space, also required DLG to restore a 17th Century barn and granary building as well as a listed Victorian pig-sty!

Having such a diverse range of projects is seen as a real strength by DLG as it continues to add to the Practice?s experience and maintains a real ?buzz? within the office.   As Julian Monaghan agrees ?the diversity of the projects that we handle is amazing, and I think the innovative and enthusiastic way with which we try and approach each project keeps our clients coming back for more?.   Certainly the Practice?s approach has been recognised nationwide with the BT Vision 100 Award for Innovation, as well as more recent awards, including a commendation from the British Council of Offices just this month for its Fashion Street development in London.

Ends