UK: The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is backing plants to convert the Murdoch Chambers & Pitman Building on Birmingham‘s Corporation Street in to an aparthotel.
The Victorian building started life in the late 1800s as a vegetarian restaurant and hotel, thought to be the first in Britain, and is believed to have once hosted Mahatmah Gandhi. It has been empty for several years.
Now developer MP Devco is proposing to convert it in to a 136-ket aparthotel. As part of its brownfield regeneration programme, the WMCA Board has agreed in principle to make an investment to kick-start the scheme, which is expected to create more than 70 jobs.
The board’s decision will now trigger detailed negotiations between the WMCA and the developers to finalise an investment deal.
Andy Street, mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, said: “Murdoch & Pitman is an iconic city centre building with a glorious history. This scheme will breathe new life into the building and the area, helping to safeguard a valued part of our local heritage. It is also yet another example of how the WMCA is putting its funding to good use to help drive forward a successful economic recovery from Covid-19 by transforming brownfield sites into new homes and communities, creating vital jobs in the process.”
The building was constructed in 1896 by J Crouch and E Butler for Dean’s Furniture and the Pitman’s restaurant, which is thought to have been named after Sir Isaac Pitman, then vice-president of the Vegetarian Society and creator of Pitman’s shorthand.
The building features carvings depicting its early uses, showing diners at the Pitman Vegetarian Restaurant and workers at Dean’s Furniture offices. Pitman’s restaurant had expanded into a hotel by 1898 and was still open when Gandhi visited the city in the 1930s. Later uses of the buildings included offices and barristers’ chambers.
Cllr Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for housing and land and leader of Walsall Council, added: “This is just the latest in a series of investment commitments we have continued to make throughout the pandemic, helping to provide market confidence and put in place the building blocks required to drive the region’s post-Covid-19 economic recovery plans. The plans for the Murdoch Chambers & Pitman Building show that with the right investment it is possible to reinvent our historic buildings in a way that remains true to their heritage but also meets the needs of the 21st century.”
