The Orion Building (Birmingham)

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The Orion Building is a large apartment complex located on the corner of John Bright Street and Navigation Street, as well as overlooking Suffolk Street Queensway. Built over several phases, the complex consists of a 90 metre tower with penthouse apartments at the top, and an incorporated Grade II listed façade of 93-97 John Bright Street. There are retail units along the ground floor at Navigation Street.

The building was designed by BBLB Architects for Crosby Homes, with renowned fashion designer John Rocha designing some of the apartment interiors. It was constructed from 2002 to 2006.

The scheme has been plagued with problems and criticism from the outset. When construction originally began in 2002, the contractor Carillion fell out with the developers and eventually withdrew from the scheme. Upon completion, the building received criticism, for example, by The Times who named it as one of the ugliest buildings in Britain in 2007. More recently, windows have had to be replaced on the tower due to faulty brackets.

There are a total of over 200 apartments and five retail units, owned by Birmingham Properties Group Ltd., within the building. Following the criticism of Orion, phase 4 of the scheme was marketed separately as Sirius.