Richardson Barberry Properties and Birmingham Council have resolved a dispute which threatened to wreck plans for 18,580 sq m (200,000 sq ft) of new offices on Colmore Row. The original development agreement stipulated that the developer pay a £2.7m contribution to the £5.4m cost of a new city square and a £1.7m commuted car parking charge.
But the developer followed its claim that these terms made the scheme “unviable” with a threat to abandon the project and refurbish the existing 1960s offices instead. In response, the council cut the developer’s contribution to £780,000.
RBP has reluctantly agreed to these terms, said the company’s Don Richardson. “It’s frustrating for developers to be expected to dig deep into their pockets and enter into situations that are not worthwhile. The whole planning system needs an overhaul. A lot of people think they can sit on a decision. But occupiers aren’t going to wait – they will just go somewhere else.”
And developers like RBP could follow them, he warned. ” We ‘ve had a lot of experience on contaminated sites elsewhere in the Black Country so we don’t have to stay in the city centre.”
EGi News 18/04/96
