Backer found for Glenn Howells’ bid to build Birmingham’s tallest resi tower

The investment banking giant has handed a £118 million debt facility to Apache Capital Partners to finance the Broad Street scheme, which is expected to become the city’s tallest residential building.

Glenn Howells, which has a studio in Birmingham, received planning permission last year for the 481-home, build-to-rent tower. The funding breakthrough means work can start on site this month. 

Backed by a partnership of Apache and Moda Living, the project opposite Argent’s Brindleyplace development has been dubbed 2one2 Broad Street.

It includes a three-storey podium with 3,200m² of offices, shops and leisure space, a rooftop running track and a ‘hotel-style’ lobby.

Apache Capital managing director Richard Jackson said: ‘We’re delighted to partner with Goldman Sachs for its first UK multifamily deal.

‘Birmingham has incredible long-term investment potential, with considerable investment underpinning new infrastructure and employment. The city council has a lot to be proud of and its support of build-to-rent will pay huge dividends as Birmingham looks to further expand its skilled workforce and retain great talent.’

Glenn Howells Architects has previously said the tower will act as an ‘important western marker for the city’ and a new ’vertical village’.

Once built, it will be higher than Birmingham’s 130m-tall part-hotel, part-housing 10 Holloway Circus skyscraper by Ian Simpson Architects, which completed in 2006. Birmingham’s tallest building overall will remain the 152m-high BT Tower.

The site, formerly Tramps nightclub, was snapped up in 2016 from Bloomcrest, a joint venture between Richardson Capital and Cordwell Property Group, spelling the end for previous proposals that featured a 30-storey tower.

Dav Bansal, director at Glenn Howells Architects, said this week: ‘Glenn Howells Architects are delighted to be a part of Moda and Apache Capital’s ambition to deliver exemplary city living through a well-considered rental offer. We are very pleased to hear that the funding, which demonstrates the huge confidence in Birmingham, has been secured.’

Moda Living managing director Tony Brooks said last year: ‘Renters have been poorly served by the housing market and the aim of build-to-rent is to change that by providing everything people need – from workspace to wellbeing – with a mix of community, security and great service.

‘People are time-poor but [they] value experience, which is why we want to take the hassle out of city living through plug-and-play Wi-Fi, an integrated mobile app and a concierge who’s on hand to collect Amazon parcels to avoid those dreaded red cards from the postman.’