Former BBC Studios To Be Expanded Into World Class Medical Facility

The application, submitted by family-owned investor and developer Calthorpe Estates, has been granted for outline planning permission to transform Building 4 at Pebble Mill into a 9,000m2 world-class healthcare facility rather than the original 5,000m2 vision first approved back in 2014.

The proposed building will be positioned between Circle Health’s new private hospital and rehabilitation centre and the Birmingham NHS Dental Hospital.

For over 30 years, Pebble Mill was the home of the BBC’s Pebble Mill Studios. Now, the area is being transformed into a the 27-acre medical development which will include leading hospitals, healthcare centres and the latest cutting edge medical facilities.

Bupa Care Homes’ 62-room care centre and the Birmingham Dental Hospital & School of Dentistry have already opened on the Pebble Mill site. Work has started on Circle Health’s new 19,000m2 private hospital and rehabilitation centre, which is due to open in Spring 2019.

Once completed, Pebble Mill will offer over 50,000m2 of medical and healthcare facilities, in addition to new food and beverage space and community access sporting amenities.

Ralph Minott, director of development for Calthorpe Estates, said: “Pebble Mill’s regeneration has been guided around excellence and the creation of jobs since the launch of the original masterplan in 2003, post the BBC. Calthorpe Estates have the capacity within this expanded proposal to now attract world-leading specialists and pioneering medical offers to Edgbaston Medical Quarter at Building 4.”

“We have received strong interest from potential occupiers for purpose-built, open plan medical facilities, which has accordingly driven our view that our proposals at Building 4 can offer more in this location.”

Located in the heart of England, EMQ is a part of Birmingham’s world-class healthcare cluster and a hub for medical excellence. Just 90 minutes from London by train with direct international flights to all major global destinations, the area has witnessed a healthcare revolution and is now home to Europe’s largest centre for focused clinical trials and 64% of the region’s healthcare economy.

As well as offering patients the latest healthcare treatment, it is also a leader in health innovation making tomorrow’s innovations become reality, today. The area also boasts a powerful group of healthcare institutions, advanced research and academic hubs, it is one of the largest center’s in the UK involved in the ‘100,000 Genomes Project’ and is a centre of excellence for both trauma and leukaemia.

Currently within EMQ there are over 180 medical organisations, 80 hospitals and specialist care centres and 44 GP clinics and routine care facilities, along with 23 training facilities.