Site remediation works have been completed at Broad Street in Birmingham, allowing for construction to begin on a new £118 million residential tower.

When complete, the Broad Street development, which was recently renamed The Mercian, will have 481 apartments exclusively for rent, offering hotel level service and a whole host of on-site amenities including a 24-hour concierge service and smart lifts that register when residents enter the building and are ready and waiting at ground level.

It will also provide residents with quality health and wellness zones, including a 200m podium open-air running track on the roof – one of the first in the UK's housing market.

Rhodar completed an £850,000 remediation project at the site, removing redundant structures from the site including well shafts, the remnants of a former abattoir, and a series of Victorian-era basements.


Remediation of soils across the 3,000 square metre site was carried out to remove asbestos, heavy metals and hydrocarbon contamination throughout the earthworks, removing all risks and safety hazards.

Over a 16-week period, Rhodar's team delivered an expertly-engineered platform to facilitate further operations allowing the tower construction phase to begin.

Over 7,500 cubic metres of soil has been excavated and treated, with 6,500 cubic metres being returned to the site and 1,000 cubic metres of this soil being removed to achieve development levels. Specialist, heavy equipment, including a crusher, a screener, a roller and D5 bulldozer were needed for the next phase of remediation.

120 linear metres of sheet piling was installed to depths of up to nine metres below ground level to facilitate the excavation, processing and re-compaction of site soils during the removal of legacy below ground structures from previous phases of development. A specialist RTG RT21T piling rig was utilised together with concrete cutting equipment to remove difficult to access obstructions at the site boundaries and for the sheet piling to be installed. This will form part of the permanent works for the new residential tower.

Construction has now started on-site after developer Moda Living held a ground-breaking ceremony on Tuesday 30 April.

(CM/JG)