The Cube (Birmingham)

 hotel, restaurant, office building, spa resort, shopping mall, apartment building

The Cube is a major mixed-use development, conceived as the final stage to The Mailbox development by the Birmingham Development Company. Designed by Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE Architects, clearing of the site began in 2006. The Birmingham Development Company set up their own contracting firm, BuildAbility, so that it could be constructed.

In early 2010, BDC and the subsidiary contracting firm, were placed into administration by Lloyds Bank. Construction continued under the administrators and was completed in late 2010, albeit with little fanfare.

The Highways Agency occupy approximately half of the office space. No shops are open yet, although many have been handed over to their tenants. In December 2010, it was announced that the hotel would become a Hotel Indigo by Sanguine Hospitality and that the rooftop restaurant would become a Marco Pierre White restaurant. They would also develop the spa in the building, all due to open in late 2011. Many apartments are yet to be occupied due to problems brought about by the credit crunch and recession on investors.

The building itself has received mixed reviews, due to its unique design that is very much out of keeping with the rest of the area in style and scale. Within the building are numerous sculptures by local graffiti artist Temper.