Beorma Quarter in Birmingham, United Kingdom

August 19, 2010 Category: Cultural, Public Buildings

Designed by TREVOR HORNE ARCHITECTS, Beorma Quarter is located in Birmingham, United Kingdom, The client’s brief called for a multi-use scheme that would create a gateway project in line with Birmingham’s Big City Plan. The site contains the city’s last surviving medieval property lines. The scheme pays tribute to this history by expressing the original burgage plots and hersum ditch in the forms of the buildings. For example the tower is formed by extruding the burgage plots creating a fragmented and layered form.

The concept of a city within a city is based on working, living and playing in a sustainable community, The components of work (office and start up businesses), living (apartments and hotel), leisure (public places, cafes and shops) are grouped around a new public route extending into a new public square. Overall 30% of the ground plane is added to the public realm.

Utilising an Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) system, six 100 metre boreholes store energy in the local aquifer. Along with a Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP) these will provide all heating and cooling for the project and cut CO2 by 25%, thus helping Birmingham achieve it’s global ambitions on sustainability. The materials used such as metal cladding, engineering bricks and bronze aluminium fins on the tower all reflect the industrial and engineering history of this part of

Beorma Quarter Design by TREVOR HORNE ARCHITECTS