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Willmott Dixon to remodel historic department store

8 Sep 16 Willmott Dixon has won an £18m contract to refurbish one of Birmingham’s most well-known buildings.

Formerly Temple Court and once a department store, the Lewis Building is to be remodelled for offices
Formerly Temple Court and once a department store, the Lewis Building is to be remodelled for offices

The Lewis Building on Bull Street in Birmingham, owned by Legal & General Property (LGP), is to be speculatively renovated to provide 10,600 m2 (114,000 sq ft) of new office space.

Formerly known as Temple Court, the Lewis Building was originally built as a department store in the 1920s by 19th century philanthropist David Lewis.

Willmott Dixon will strip back the interior of the building to shell and core, and remodel the building to provide floorplates of 1600 m2 (17,000 sq ft), along with a new 1100 m2 (12,000 sq ft), glazed seventh storey with roof terraces.  EPR is the architects for the project.

For Willmott Dixon, the Lewis Building project follows on from its recent fit-out of the new HS2 headquarters in Snowhill. Elsewhere in the city, the company is also building the National College for High Speed Rail in Duddeston to train HS2 engineers and working in the Millennium Quarter with a project for Birmingham City University, expanding the Curzon building.

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Peter Owen, Willmott Dixon’s managing director in the Midlands, said: "We are hugely proud of our role in creating Birmingham’s exciting new future with these projects, and are excited to be creating superb Grade A offices in the heart of the city’s business district.

“LGP is taking an innovative approach to the Lewis Building, offering a product that is providing space that responds to the needs of modern occupiers while respecting and enhancing the historic aspects of the building’s exterior. This is an ambitious project but will create a significant addition to Birmingham’s office market and will represent a fitting legacy to this historically important building.”

LGP senior asset manager Tom Williams said: “With an outstanding track record of renovating historic and listed buildings such as Alexandra Palace, we are exceedingly confident that Willmott Dixon will deliver our vision for a 21st Century workplace in the heart of Birmingham. We are taking an underinvested asset and creating a truly landmark location that seamlessly blends a contemporary workplace with the building’s historic legacy.”

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MPU
MPU

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