Landmark’s Birmingham PBSA set for green light
Plans to build a further 500 student apartments in the city centre will be decided this week, after city council planners recommended approval for a 21-storey tower near the Mailbox.
The development is the latest proposal for the half-acre site on Suffolk Street, after 125-home residential plans approved in October 2024 were deemed unviable.
New proposals worked up by student accommodation developer Landmark Properties could see a 625ft student scheme built instead, following a rethink for the site – triggered by a shifting landscape for high-rise developments in the city.
A report supplied with the proposals said there had been an “absence of developer interest” in delivering the approved 125-home residential build, in part due to beefed up regulatory requirements brought in with the Building Safety Act last year, but also due to a rise in cost inflation for new buildings.
The development sits next to the under-construction 29-storey VITA student tower, shown to the right, Credit: Glancy Nicholls.
The site sits next door to the 29-storey Vita Tower, currently under construction, and set to provide 540 student beds when it opens later this year, part of a wave of PBSA construction intended to address a predicted short-fall of around 5,000 student beds in the city centre.
If updated plans for the site are approved, a 625ft tower will be built alongside an 8-storey shoulder building, providing 506 student beds and around 14,000 sq ft of outdoor parks and courtyards.
The scheme could be open for students as early as September, 2028.
Recommending the scheme for approval, the city council’s planning offers said the development would create a “meaningful contribution” towards Birmingham’s housing provision and the regeneration aspirations for this part of the city centre.
The scheme has been designed by Glancy Nicolls Architects, with planning consultancy supplied by Williams Gallagher.
Birmingham City Council’s planning committee will decide on the application at a meeting set to be held tomorrow, 19 March.
