Approval given for 48-storey Birmingham skyscraper

The planned building will be one of the tallest in Birmingham

Plans for a 48-storey skyscraper in Birmingham have been approved.

The building, which will be known as 2 Snowhill Plaza, will contain 462 flats, along with facilities such as a gym, co-working space and a bicycle workshop.

It will not have parking spaces but will instead have 464 cycle spaces for residents.

Concerns were raised about its impact on the heritage of the area, but it passed by seven votes to six.

Birmingham City's planning committee heard criticism from Historic England.

The giant building on Snow Hill Queensway will stand next to the Holiday Inn Express and to the rear of West Midlands Police's Lloyd House headquarters near Snow Hill railway station.

The building will have 464 spots to leave a bike instead of car parking spaces

Gareth Moore, one of the councillors on the committee, said: "I struggle to see how the benefits outlined in the report are unique to this application and couldn't be delivered through another development on the site."

His Conservative colleague David Barrie said: "It's an incredible-sized building - the scale of it dwarfs everything else.

"A lot of the benefits of this... could be delivered in a much less intrusive development."