Sitting just off Centenary Square in central Birmingham, 3 Arena Central is the culmination of work that first began in 2007. It is Make’s third building in the Arena Central masterplan, which we also designed, and provides 14 floors of flexible Grade A office space. Part of the UK’s Government Hubs Programme, from 2021 it will house around 3,600 civil servants from a number of government departments, including HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions.
The building is nestled behind the listed 1920s Municipal Bank, which sits along the south side of the square. We envisioned 3 Arena Central as a ‘jewel’ embedded among the stone-clad buildings that will eventually go up around it. To reflect this, we opted for a boldly expressed metallic facade with a repeating hexagonal pattern that responds to the clean, sculptural lines of the nearby listed 1970s Alpha Tower.
At ground level, colonnades on three sides invite pedestrians into the newly created and landscaped Bank Court between the former bank and 3 Arena Central. The building is at the centre of two new key routes through the masterplan: the north–south one between Centenary Square and the Mailbox, and the east–west route connecting the canal and New Street Station. As such, it serves as an anchor for the whole masterplan.
The team at Make has done an exceptional job in designing the highly desirable contemporary buildings that form the core of Arena Central. The work that has gone into [3 Arena Central] is outstanding, and [it] will make a great addition to Birmingham’s burgeoning skyline.
