Birmingham’s Beneficial Building to become hotel, café & restaurant in £16m redevelopment

Planning permission has been granted for the development of the seven-storey HSBC site in Paradise Street, which has been vacant for years after the owners fell into administration in 2008.

The Beneficial Building, as it's known, is being transformed by Gethar Ventures and discussions with a potential hotel operator are currently underway, although contracts are yet to be agreed.

The first business to sign up to the development was revealed earlier this week as the Birmingham-based café chain Urban Coffee Company, which has taken the 1,733 sq.ft ground-floor space.

“Urban Coffee Co was the obvious choice for us,” said Gethar Ventures’ director Anthony McCourt. “Often hotels use the usual coffee shop chains, but we wanted an independent option to give guests something a little different. It’s one of Birmingham’s most vibrant brands with an unrivalled coffee offering.

“We have been impressed by their entrepreneurial skills from the get-go. They introduced the first of the ‘third wave’ of coffee emporiums here in Birmingham and pioneered the flat white coffee in the city.”

Quirky design​

Simon Jenner, owner and founder of Urban Coffee Co, added: “The recent explosion in the independent coffee scene has been fantastic and it gives the consumer so much choice within the sector. As a result, we’ve had to stay right at top of our game and work hard to stay ahead.

“This new site is testament to this and is especially exciting as we have a bigger budget than ever before for the kit-out - we’ll certainly be going for a much quirkier look than in any of our other emporiums.”

The 170 sq.ft kitchen on the ground floor will also be used to offer room service to the proposed hotel above.

A complete strip out is currently being undertaken on the site by contractor DSM and is due to be completed by the end of 2013, ready for a fit-out to start in early 2014. The overall development will create 100 new jobs, including at least 50 for young, unemployed people.

Birmingham was last year highlighted by BigHospitality as one of our ‘Hospitable Cities’​​- tourists and locals alike are becoming increasingly attracted by its arts and exhibitions venues and one of the largest shopping centres in the UK, the Bullring – accommodating 25 restaurants including both established food concepts and emerging brands.