24 highlights in 2024
Milestones throughout the year
By Ross Fittall
It’s been another keystone year for Paradise, with crucial steps made towards delivering further new buildings across the estate as well as welcoming new venues and new people to this corner of Birmingham.
The beginning of 2024 got off to a positive start with the announcement Dains accountants – one of the fastest growing accountancy firms in the country – would move its fast-growing Birmingham office to Two Chamberlain Square where it has occupied the final office space that was left to let in this ground-breaking building.
In February, Paradise underlined its wide range of seasonal events with a Chinese New Year event featuring a pair of dragons from the city’s Chinatown as well as a Valentine’s event for people across the estate.
In March the estate celebrated another major office move, this time at One Centenary Way where global real estate firm JLL occupied half a floor of space for its newly relocated Birmingham office.
One Centenary Way also won a best commercial workplace award at the prestigious BCO Awards for the Central and Midlands region.
Over Easter, local artist Katie O’Sullivan got down to work on several huge, colourful easter eggs that covered the themes of sport, environment, and Birmingham’s heritage and reflected the ideas created by local primary-age school pupils. Each egg represented a piece of Birmingham’s history and spent time on the estate before eventually being transferred to local primary schools close to Paradise.
After Easter, the estate’s herb garden bloomed into life and was able to facilitate visits from many of the Paradise occupiers.
In the summer, Chris Taylor, Head of Real Estate at Federated Hermes Limited and Chairman of MEPC, joined colleagues from main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM) and the wider Three Chamberlain Square project team to mark the ‘topping out’ of the 189,000 sq ft building.
The symbolic ceremony commenced with a traditional Scottish bagpipe to reflect the heritage of SRM and the pouring of the last concrete into the building’s framework. It will be available for occupiers to move into from next summer.
June saw Goldman Sachs and Mills & Reeve take occupation of their floors in One Centenary Way, joining Arup and JLL in the building.
July saw the launch of our new five-year community-driven programme for young people – Paradise Unlocked – with a focus on life skills, careers, sustainability, the future of work, wellbeing and the workplace. By bringing occupiers together around a common social purpose and by building lasting links with local schools and students, we are contributing to a sense of community around Paradise.
Paradise Summer Live came next, with daily entertainment for all those working here as well as the thousands of visitors into Chamberlain Square during the school holidays to enjoy daily entertainment.
Come September, and the estate marked one of its biggest milestones to date – the ‘topping out’ of The Octagon, the world-first pure octagonal residential tower at the northern apex of the site which is bringing 370 new homes to the city.
Publicity included coverage on both Central TV and the BBC, as well as dozens of publications and websites covering this major event. There was also a charity Vertical Mile event that saw the winner run to the top of this 155-metre-high building in just 5 minutes and 7 seconds, while raising money for Acorns Children’s Hospice.
Come autumn, Paradise got ready for the opening of not one, or two, but three new restaurants with the arrival of Yorks Café, La Bellezza and Cow & Sow.
As the autumn progressed, and exclusively for Paradise occupiers and their staff was a pumpkin-carving Halloween competition as well as several Christmas themed ‘Lunch & Learn’ events that included origami, candle and decoration making.
And to mark the end of the year, the estate has installed its festive baubles across the public realm with two weeks of free events around the estate to help everyone who visits get in the seasonal mood.
Paradise has connected with its business community as well as its local neighbourhoods and brought many thousands of people together this year to learn, socialise and create across the estate.
It’s been a busy and fulfilling year and we are looking forward to building on all of this in 2025.