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A team led by David Kohn Architects has been appointed to design a new mixed-use new home for the Birmingham markets, located at the centre of the £1.5 billion (A$2.7bn) urban regeneration project by Lendlease.
The firm was selected from a global shortlist of five finalists, including Paris-based Moreau Kusunoki Architects, which recently won the contest for the Powerhouse Parramatta in Sydney, James Corner Field Operations and London-based 5th Studio.
Located at the centre of Birmingham since the birth of the city, the contest brief was to imagine a new market building for the future.
“Smithfield has been the productive centre of markets and makers since the foundation of Birmingham and integral to its success as the ‘City of a Thousand Trades’,” David Kohn Architects director David Kohn said of the appointment.
Lendlease was appointed as preferred development partner for the $2.7 billion overhaul of the major site in Britain's second-largest city early last year.
The redevelopment, a 25-year vision, will revamp the old market district in the middle of Birmingham into a mixed-use residential, retail and leisure precinct with up to 2000 homes.
Forming part of its global development pipeline, Lendlease also has another urbanisation project in Milan Italy, a 2.5 billion ($4 billion) contract to transform a 100-hectare site into residential and commercial.
Closer to home, Lendlease this week confirmed that a potential buyer, John Holland, had pulled out of the sale process for its $300 million services unit.
The majority of Lendleases troubled engineering business was sold to Spanish construction group Acciona in December.
The ASX-property giant also offloaded a 25 per cent share in its over-station tower above the yet to be developed Victoria Cross Metro Station in North Sydney.
The New South Wales government engaged Lendlease to deliver the new Sydney Metro railway station and tower in January last year.
