The Rotunda (Birmingham) | apartment building, 1965_construction, Grade II Listed (UK)

 apartment building, 1965_construction, Grade II Listed (UK)

The Rotunda is an iconic cylindrical highrise building in Birmingham, England. The building is 81 metres (266 ft) tall and has 23 floors with a 4 storey podium and two underground floors.

The building was originally designed by James A. Roberts. It was originally planned to have 12 floors with a revolving restaurant and a cinema, but when the tower was changed to a 23 floors, the restaurant and cinema were abandoned. The 23-storey design was approved and construction began in 1961. It was constructed with the aid of a tower crane located to the side of the reinforced concrete central core. Due to its proximity to a railway tunnel, the main load was built onto a twin ring of piled foundations directly beneath the circular structural core. The floors are supported by the core and perimeter columns. When opened, the 4-story podium had shops and a banking hall with a circular mural designed by John Poole. Completed in 1965 at a cost of £1,000,000 during the post-war rebuilding of the Bull Ring, it was much derided and considered to be a "dead building". However, suggestions in the 1980s that it should be demolished when the Bull Ring was again redeveloped met with equal, if not greater, hostility from the local populace. The tower was targeted by the IRA in 1974 after one of two bombs placed in pubs around the city was detonated in the Mulberry Bush pub at the base of the tower. The attacks killed 21 people in total and although the tower did not collapse, caused structural damage to the towers core. The attack is still to this day the most deadly terrorist attack on the British mainland. Since construction and prior to the construction of the new bullring advertisements were displayed a the top of the building. The building also previously had a digital clock showing the time from the top floors. In August 2000, the building received Grade II Listed Building status.

From 2004 to 2008, The Rotunda was refurbished and partially converted into residential use by designer Urban Splash and Glenn Howells Architects. The redevelopment created 232 luxury apartments, including six penthouse units on the 20th floor. The whole of the 19th floor and one of the penthouses on the 20th floor is run as serviced apartments by the Manchester-based operator, Staying Cool. There are fourteen apartments on each floor. Two hi-tech LED illuminations were installed at the top of the building in 2007. Both LED boards have been removed to make way for a 'light box' which was approved by Birmingham City Council in late-2007. The facade consists of 72 floor-to-ceiling height glass panes, each placed at 5° to the neighbouring window.

150 New Street
Birmingham
West Midlands
B2 4PA
Tel:0121 202 5000