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The Cube (building)

The Cube
The Cube birmingham.jpg
General information
Status Complete
Type Mixed use - Office, Retail, Residential, Hotel
Location Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Coordinates 52°28′30″N 1°54′25″W / 52.4750°N 1.9070°W / 52.4750; -1.9070Coordinates: 52°28′30″N 1°54′25″W / 52.4750°N 1.9070°W / 52.4750; -1.9070
Construction started 2007
Completed 2010
Cost £100 million
Height
Roof 70.4 m (231 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 25
Floor area 450,000 square feet (41,806 m2)
Design and construction
Architect Ken Shuttleworth
Architecture firm MAKE Architects
Developer Birmingham Development Company
Structural engineer Buro Happold
Main contractor BuildAbility

The Cube is a 25 storey mixed-use development in the centre of Birmingham, England. Designed by Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE Architects, it contains 135 flats, 111,500 square feet (10,359 m2) of offices, shops, a hotel and a 'skyline' restaurant. It is the final phase of The Mailbox development.

The site is enclosed by The Mailbox complex, Commercial Street, Washington Wharf apartment complex and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

As the final stage of The Mailbox development, Birmingham Development Company Ltd. decided to organise a design competition for a building on the site. The winning design was submitted by Birmingham-born architect Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE Architects.

Plans for The Cube were first submitted to Birmingham City Council's Planning Department on 31 August 2005 for outline planning permission. A six-week public consultation stage was implemented immediately, and the planning application received outline planning permission from the Planning Committee on 7 February 2006.

On 17 May 2006, a reserved matters planning application was submitted to Birmingham City Council, the submission of reserved matters for design, external appearance and landscaping relating to the erection of two buildings. One in the form of a cube incorporating a mix of uses to include car parking, retail, restaurant, office, residential, boutique hotel and skyline restaurant, and one plant building in accordance with the application. Full planning permission was granted by the Planning Committee on 7 August 2006.

The project was originally scheduled to be completed in 2008, but has been delayed. Construction company, Taylor Woodrow had won the project from Sir Robert McAlpine and Miller Construction, but had been unable to agree a final price, with the developer, BDC. Due to other contractors being deterred by the complexity of the design, BDC decided to establish their own subsidiary contractor, BuildAbility. This led Building magazine to dub the project 'Britain's biggest DIY job'. Employees of Build Ability are being offered a 60% share of the profits of The Cube as an incentive to encourage recruitment.


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