The Mailbox to get a major makeover

The Mailbox, the canalside shopping, office and leisure complex that is home to BBC Birmingham and Harvey Nichols, is to get a major makeover.

Its owner, Milligan Retail, announced on 30 May that the complex will be renovated to designs by Stanton Williams, winners of the Stirling Prize for architecture. The plans include a new roof over the complex's central atrium.

Better links to the city

The owners have also said they will work with Birmingham City Council to improve the route from the underpass beneath Suffolk Street Queensway to the front of the Mailbox, which many visitors find unwelcoming.

The Mailbox is owned by a joint venture between Brockton Capital and Milligan. The new roof over the atrium is intended to create a covered, all-weather space at the heart of the complex, making it more comfortable for shoppers and diners in the winter months and allowing it to be used for events.

From sorting office to shopping

The building began life as the Royal Mail's main sorting office for Birmingham, completed in 1970. When it opened, it was the largest mechanised letters and parcels sorting office in the country and the largest building in Birmingham. A tunnel under Severn Street linked it to New Street station, so that electric tractors could carry sacks of mail directly between the trains and the sorting office.

In 1997, Alan Chatham, who had worked on the development of Brindleyplace, learned that the sorting office was to be sold. He set up his own company and bought the building in 1998 for £3 million.

The conversion, designed by the Birmingham practice Associated Architects, stripped the building back to its steel frame. The £150 million complex opened in December 2000, with shops, restaurants, offices, hotels and apartments.

The BBC's home

In 2004, BBC Birmingham moved into new studios at the Mailbox, replacing its famous Pebble Mill site in Edgbaston. The public can watch radio and television programmes being made from a public foyer, and The Archers is recorded there.

Competition for shoppers

The Mailbox has become one of the city's best-known addresses, known for its designer shops and waterside restaurants on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, close to Gas Street Basin.

But competition for shoppers is growing. The rebuilt New Street station will include a new shopping centre with a large John Lewis store, due to open in 2015, and the Bullring continues to draw huge crowds. The owners hope the renovation will keep the Mailbox attractive to shoppers, businesses and diners.

What happens next

The renovation work is expected to take place over the next few years, with the complex remaining open throughout. Further details, including new shops and restaurants, are expected to be announced as the plans progress.