Young Birmingham firm Kinetic AIU has won a competition to design the masterplan for a large waterside site in Eastside, central Birmingham.

Kinetic, founded only two years ago, has emerged triumphant from a shortlist, which included Fat, Azhar Architects and S333 Architecture, to draw up the regeneration blueprint for Warwick Bar.

The 1.9ha former industrial area, named after the listed stop-lock unction between the Grand Union and Digbeth Branch canals, has been identified by Birmingham City Council and British Waterways regeneration company Isis as suitable for a new creative quarter.

Kinetic director John Shakeshaft said the win reflected the quality of the practice's work, pointing to its second-place finish behind Make in the competition for the city's Mailbox retail Centre in May,

"We would like to think that this reflects the quality of our entry, rather than the fact that we are a Birmingham firm," he said. "Our strategy is to excavate the layers of [Warwick Bar's] history to reveal its heritage and the natural landscape beneath."

The regeneration zone features four listed canal buildings and a culverted section of the river Rea hidden underground since the beginning of the 20th century.

The judging panel complimented the practice on its "strong sense of environment and distinctiveness of place."

The firm's entry proposed a film centre, art gallery, hotel, up to 600 new homes, flexible business space and amenities. The brief called for the project to be an exemplar of sustainability, and Kinetic will investigate urban wind farms and biomass heating systems in an attempt to create a carbon-neutral Scheme.