Birmingham's first wind farm could be built in Digbeth if proposals for a sustainable mixed-use development on the historic Warwick Bar site go ahead.

Concept designs by Birmingham architects Kinetic AlU, revealed last night as winners of a competition to master-plan the site, include 11 wind turbines - ten along the canalside and another incorporated into a tall building which would greet train passengers arriving from London.

The turbines are one possible way of generating energy on-site as part of plans by developers ISIS to deliver a carbon-neutral development.

The scheme could also make a start on liberating the River Rea from the brick culvert which has constrained it for over a century. On one side the wall would be replaced by a stepped series of grassed terraces designed to accommodate flooding.

Warwick Bar is probably the most important surviving Victorian industrial canalside location in the city. The 1.9 hectare (4.56 acre) site is bounded on one side by Fazeley Street, on two by canals and on the fourth by the River Rea.

There are three nationally listed and one locally listed buildings on the site, and the land across the canal includes the only area of wilderness in the city centre, providing an important resource for wildlife.

Kinetic was selected from a shortlist of seven in a competition organised by regional architecture centre MADE (Midlands Architecture Design Environment) on behalf of ISIS, a specialist waterside regeneration company linked to British Waterways. MADE has just relocated to a listed 1840s building at Warwick Bar.

The shortlisted practices, taken from 45 submissions, included firms from Denmark and Holland.

ISIS regeneration director Mike Finkill said: "As a developer we have a sustainability charter and have selected Warwick Bar as an exemplar and a test-bed. That is why we are working closely with colleagues at Birmingham City Council and the Eastside Sustainability Advisory Group."

Bold vision for city quarter

Venice and Stockholm have been the inspiration for plans aimed at transforming an historic part of Birmingham city centre. Arts Editor Terry Grimley looks at the proposals.

The much-trumpeted transformation of Digbeth into Birmingham's new media quarter has been slow to take off but an ambitious vision for the Warwick Bar site, unveiled last night, could set new aspirations for the area. In contrast to previous proposals for the canalside conservation area, which adopted a low-key, low-rise approach reflecting the existing Victorian buildings, competition winners Kinetic AIU envisage an intensive mixed-use development including seven large blocks within a network of streets and squares.

The vision is for a mixed community living and working on the site, with a strong emphasis on sustainability, flagged up by 11 tall wind turbines incorporated into the model. Bob Ghosh, director of Kinetic, said inspiration had been taken from the mix of buildings and spaces in Venice and a recent dockside development in Stockholm, as well as the rich industrial history of the site.

Possible uses include a film centre and auditorium, up to 600 new homes, flexible business space, cafes, bars, shops and restaurants. It is suggested that the canalside Banana Warehouse could be converted into an art gallery.

"It's all about placemaking," Mr Ghosh said. "It's important to get a lot of people on the site - a living, working community with a dynamic mix of uses.

"There are ambitions to make this the media quarter, and for independent production companies this site could be the natural progression from the Custard Factory.
"A key aspect of it is the way the existing buildings relate to new buildings. The scale of the former Fellows, Morton & Clayton building is huge, so we think we can justify some pretty imposing buildings on this site, both architecturally and in terms of scale. And we would like to think some of the buildings can be world-class."

He added that a number of different architects were likely to design individual buildings, in order to achieve diversity. It is hoped the development could set a precedent for what is already being called Birmingham's 'Lower Eastside', the area of Digbeth south of the Birmingham-Coventry railway line, where well established creative-industry developments such as the Custard Factory and The Bond have more recently been joined by relocated media organisations such as Screen West Midlands and Vivid.

Most of the area is still occupied by generally low quality industrial buildings, with a sprinkling of historic survivals. While there is little visible evidence of the area being transformed, there are plans in the pipeline. Across Fazeley Street from Warwick Bar, leading Birmingham practice Glenn Howells Architects has designed a large development - mixed, but mainly residential - at Typhoo Wharf, while across the canal there are plans to redevelop the UB40 recording studio site. However, Warwick Bar could lay down a benchmark for future Eastside development in terms of sustainability.

"The real difference between ISIS (the waterside regeneration company) and other developers is that they have a real commitment to ideas of community and sustainability," said Mr Ghosh. "They are very keen to develop a community on this site, with people of all backgrounds and, for example, affordable child care."

While emphasising that the designs so far represent only the outline concepts of the competition-winning practice, ISIS regeneration director Mike Finkill said he was optimistic that a development of similar scale could be delivered.

“To get to a proper masterplan we have to consult with a much bigger group of stakeholders, and until they have had their input it is not possible to say what shape the scheme will eventually take. But there is enough in that concept to convince me that we have appointed the right designers. We were also impressed by a lot of the ideas put forward by other competitors."

As well as organising the competition, regional architecture centre MADE (Midlands Architecture Design Environment) - previously hosted by the Royal Institute of British Architects' West Midlands office - has become the first design-focused organisation to take up residence at Warwick Bar.

'We wanted a place with character, that reflects the work we do, has a story in itself, and wasn't just one of the hundreds of serviced offices in the city centre," director Julia Ellis explained. We were also keen to be in Eastside.

"Everything we do is collaborative and this is an exemplar project and process. We believe there is a lot of talk about quality in the designed environment, but what we need are real live examples such as this one," she added.

Wind power

When it comes to delivering excellence in the built environment, the enlightened patron is even more crucial than the talented architect. Without the former, the latter will never make a mark.

Birmingham already owes its one iconic recent building to the determination of Selfridges' former chief executive, Vittorio Radice, to achieve something extraordinary. Now it seems that developers ISIS may be about to deliver something still more heroic in Digbeth.

ISIS has been pondering for some time what to do with what must be one of its most interesting sites - the Warwick Bar conservation area, with its mix of canal-related buildings dating from the 1840s to the 1930s. Now a competition organised by the regional architecture centre MADE has come up with a startling vision from winners Kinetic AlU - startling both in terms of its scale and density and in its visible commitment to sustainability in incorporating 11 wind turbines.

There has been much talk about the need for sustainability and diversity in city centre developments, but as Kinetic's Bob Ghosh points out, most developers look for loopholes to escape the whole issue of low energy buildings. However, it seems ISIS has a genuine interest in delivering a carbon-neutral development with a mixed living and working community. Views about building wind turbines in Digbeth are bound to be mixed, but it might at least be argued that they would not be out of keeping with the industrial spirit of the location.

Much work remains to be done, but the images we publish today suggest that in a few years time this could be a dynamic, innovative area of the city with an attractive mix of activities and design of international quality. Perhaps most exciting, though, is the influence it could bring to bear on the redevelopment of the wider Digbeth area.

By Terry Grimley
Arts Editor