Beorma Quarter Tower

Structural scheme delivers open span office layouts with flexible residential units above

Project Overview

The Beorma Quarter Tower is a landmark new-build in central Birmingham, opposite the Bullring and St Martin’s Church.

A 29-storey mixed-use project blends commercial and residential spaces while paying homage to Birmingham’s historic centre. The design reflects original burgage plot lines, creating a striking, layered structure.

A new public square, “Orwell Place,” will connect the Bullring to Allison Street, enhancing pedestrian access and fostering community engagement. The tower offers commercial spaces, Grade A offices, and over 140 residential units, including luxury penthouses with panoramic city views.

Part of Birmingham’s Big City Plan, the development is central to the Digbeth district’s regeneration, showcasing sustainable urban growth.

Structural Design and Engineering

The structural design of the Tower focuses on creating open-plan office spaces and flexible residential units. The design features large internal spans, enhancing the openness of office areas. In residential sections, the absence of internal columns allows for adaptable flat layouts. Flat slab construction is employed throughout, simplifying service coordination and routing.

The structural framework complements the external façade, which reflects the site’s historical burgage plot layout—a key design element of the tower.

Close collaboration with the frame contractor led to tailored construction solutions. These include off-site precast concrete elements, such as reinforced concrete columns and basement retaining wall panels, as well as a hybrid post-tensioned slab system. This approach enhances construction efficiency and quality.

Value Engineering

A significant value engineering achievement in the substructure was the design of the foundation supporting the structural core as a piled raft. This involved developing a detailed 3D finite element model of the raft, incorporating spring supports to represent the 900mm diameter rock-socket piles.

By optimising the design, we reduced the number of piles beneath the raft from approximately 100 to 70. This refinement delivered substantial cost and time savings while maintaining structural integrity and performance.