Parklands Reserve unveils own Tower of Babel

The sculpture,  unveiled by John Burke, managing director of HBG Properties Ltd, forms the centrepiece at the gateway to the 30-acre mature landscaped site where two distinctive headquarter-style office buildings, totalling more than 50,000 sq ft, have just been completed by developer HBG  and attracted interest from a number of regional and national companies.

Richard Cosby, a Coventry University School of Art & Design student who has gained a degree in fine art and sculpture, designed the sculpture which has been formed from inscribed text spiralling upwards, basing it on references from the Tower of Babel, a biblical construction with the sole purpose of bridging the gap between heaven and earth.

Mr Cosby, whose design won a competition run by Parklands Reserve’s developer HBG, in association with Aedas Architects Ltd and the University, explained that the symbolism of the Tower of Babel has parallels in modern society where in all aspects of life and employment, people are encouraged to strive for personal ascendancy.

Parklands Reserve, alongside the A38 at Longbridge and close to the M5 and M42 within the newly designated Central Technology Belt, has the distinction of being the site of BT e-locations’ first operation in Birmingham.

Traffic congestion in the city centre and around some of the business centres in the motorway corridor close to Solihull, is creating more demand for offices in the least-congested South Birmingham M5/M42 corridor area, where Parklands Reserve is located.

Peter Burford, HBG Properties’ regional director, said that preparations are underway for the creation at Parklands Reserve of a further 200,000 sq ft of accommodation for the office and technology sectors.

GVA Grimley and KWB, the joint agents, report an upsurge of interest in edge-of-city locations which offer high-standard designed accommodation with good parking provision.