Upper Trinity Street Digbeth, Birmingham
A focus on place and people first.
Digbeth is an industrial area south of Birmingham city centre steeped in local, national and global history. It’s known for its unique industrial culture and hidden gems.
An area of significant change, it’s now home to creatives, artists, musicians and makers. Whether its street art, street food, live music, festivals, pop-up markets or motorbike building…you’ll find it in Digbeth.
The challenge for the Upper Trinity Street transformative redevelopment is to incorporate Digbeth’s thriving creativity and culture and provide a future platform for it to continue seamlessly.
In line with the council’s emerging Digbeth masterplan, the Upper Trinity Street scheme aims to create a thriving creative and cultural hub, boost flow to and from the centre, foster community and enhance the public realm.
Our people-focused approach started with a character analysis to capture Digbeth’s heritage – and understand people’s needs and constraints when engaging with the area.
The resulting design is a place-led cultural and residential response to the opportunity to enrich a key part of the city. This includes a range of event, work and creative spaces that reflect, retain and enhance Digbeth’s unique character and heritage.
The lower levels of the development will offer creative, cultural and commercial space, with the residential component located above within a series of taller building elements.
A new Pump House Park is named after the former Victorian pump house, a vital piece of canal infrastructure and local history. It features dwell spaces and a large industrial art installation referencing the original building.
Working with a range of community stakeholders, we developed a scheme that restores the urban edge to Upper Trinity Street. It creates a sense of place that enhances what people love about Digbeth – with new spaces people will come back to time and time again as the area benefits from HS2 and the forthcoming Sky Park.
Over 900 new homes will be created in a mix of PRS and private sale across a range of building types. The tallest, at the north end of the site, will be 32 storeys.
Each block has its own visual identity, with each type responding to the rugged, industrial context. A variety of resident amenity spaces are provided, as well as a series of interconnecting public spaces including a park, courtyards and promenade.
The development aims to restore the urban edge to Upper Trinity Street, providing a legible cityscape for both pedestrians at street level, those walking along the future Sky Park and passengers arriving by train and tram.
Careful consideration over massing, form and materiality help articulate the different areas of this large redevelopment – and also embed it into its setting. Brick colours, windows types and saw-toothed roofs reflect Digbeth’s existing character.
Overall, the scheme aims ‘to create a thriving creative and cultural hub with a high-quality, easily accessible environment in Digbeth’ – in line with the council’s emerging Digbeth masterplan. It aims to work in unison with its rich heritage and emerging neighbours.
Unanimous planning permission was granted in July 2021.
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