|
RAPAPORT... The Birmingham City Council approved a $1.9 million (GBP 1.2 million) grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the Birmingham Assay Office's new building. The additional funds will enable the group to now build a new facility in the city's Jewellery Quarter and kick-start development. The new Assay Office site is located in an enterprise zone on the edge of the Quarter. Michael Allchin, the CEO of the Birmingham Assay Office, said, ''The profile of our business has changed significantly in the past 10 years and the future of The Birmingham Assay Office depends upon it being able to continue to diversify and expand its activities. Our current building has been extended outwards and upwards since it was built in 1877, but is no longer fit for our purpose. It is time to move on.'' The Assay Office has been finalizing specifications for the facility since it received planning board approval. Project manager Mark Wright of Trebor Developments and architects Simon Rea and Helen Wootton of Glazzard Architects are designing space for each of the Assay Office's five divisions. The working bid is scheduled for April and construction would commence by midyear for a completion date in the middle of 2014. City council cabinet member Tahir Ali said, ''Having secured GBP 4 million of ERDF funding for land and property developments in Digbeth and the Jewellery Quarter, I am delighted that we are able to award GBP 1.2 million to the Birmingham Assay Office toward the cost of building new office accommodation in Hockley. ''This grant will give additional business floor space and help the Birmingham Assay Office to expand its analysis and testing of metals and precious material operation, a growing part of its business. Furthermore, the award will create six new jobs and help to safeguard 100 existing jobs in a business that is unique to Birmingham,'' Ali concluded.
|