Two documents decide, not one.
The Birmingham Development Plan of 2017 and the Development Management document decide every application. The replacement plan has had its final consultation and is not adopted.
Read moreRIBA Chartered · West Midlands
Architects in Birmingham.
Brownfield plots, apartments and office conversions. Find out what yours will take.
Selected work in Birmingham
Office conversion · Sheldon
Sheldon Court
Two vacant office blocks converted to sixty-four apartments, delivered and let.
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City centre · Birmingham
Tennant Street Lofts
Reserved matters approved, then forty apartments delivered to completion.
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Canalside · Birmingham
Cliveland Street
Fifty-two apartments on a canalside brownfield site, delivered to completion.
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Bowling green · Acocks Green
Gospel Lane
Eight homes on a former bowling green the council accepted was no longer needed.
View projectPlanning in Birmingham · 01
Know what the council will ask for.
Birmingham decides on a plan adopted in 2017. Its replacement went to a final consultation in 2026 and, unlike most authorities, the city can demonstrate a housing land supply. Six things shape most schemes here.
Six years of land, and less riding on it.
Birmingham reports 6.45 years of housing land supply. Since August 2026, national policy favours housing inside the city whatever the supply.
Read moreThirty-five per cent, from fifteen homes up.
Policy TP31 seeks 35 per cent affordable homes on schemes of fifteen dwellings or more, and Birmingham applies it to build to rent as well.
Read moreSpace standards are not negotiable.
Policy DM10 applies the national space standards to all housing, and asks for 30 per cent accessible homes from fifteen dwellings up.
Read moreA house to an HMO needs permission.
A city-wide Article 4 direction has removed the permitted right to convert a home into a small house in multiple occupation anywhere in the city.
Read moreThe levy depends on your value zone.
Community Infrastructure Levy is charged on housing in the higher value zones and at nothing in the lower ones, so the zone comes first.
Read moreBirmingham City Council policy, correct at August 2026. The emerging local plan and the levy indexation both move, so we re-check them at the point of application.
The proof
Sixty-four homes in two vacant office blocks.
Sheldon Court, Birmingham
Two empty 1990s office blocks beside the A45 at Sheldon, converted into sixty-four apartments and delivered to completion. Five further consents were secured along the way, including the external alterations and the cladding change the warranty required mid-build.
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Every application we make is a matter of public record on a council planning register. Ours reach more than 100 planning authorities across the UK. The practice has been working since 1970.
Who we work with · 02
Start from what you are building.
Developers, homeowners and commercial clients all need the same first answer: what will this site take? The route to it changes with the project.
For developers
Apartments, conversions and brownfield infill, from residential architects who design schemes that are viable and buildable, with the planning case built in from the first sketch.
Residential developmentFor homeowners
Extensions, remodels and new houses across the city's suburbs and conservation areas, designed around how you live.
Private homesCommercial and mixed-use
Warehouses, offices, shops and mixed-use conversions, from commercial architects who argue the case with the evidence Birmingham expects to see.
Commercial workWhy Rickett · 03
Start a conversation Why clients come back.
Work with a team that has already built here.
Fifty-two apartments delivered on a canalside site off Cliveland Street. Sixty-four more from two empty office blocks in Sheldon. Yours would not be our first Birmingham brownfield site, or our first buried constraint.
Get to a decision sooner.
We submit a complete, valid application. The delays that cost a programme are the avoidable ones.
A lead architect, start to finish.
A lead architect is involved from the first conversation to the last drawing. The team that starts your scheme stays with it, so nothing is passed down a chain.
Know the site before you commit to it.
Sites are appraised in the open by someone who knows what a council needs to see and when to push back.
Article 4 TPOTurn an empty building into homes.
96 per cent of the homes built in Birmingham since 2011 have gone on land that was used before. The route, the fallback position and the space standards get worked through together, before a price is agreed.
space standards planning permission prior approval the existing useSpend once the risk is down.
Costs staged behind certainty. Every commitment waits for the decision that justifies it, so nothing is spent on a scheme that has not earned it.
appraisal consent your spendLet someone else hold the list.
From first appraisal to final discharge, every survey, report and condition is tracked for you. You are not the one chasing an ecologist in week nine.
Ecology surveyReport inCondition 7tracked to dischargeWorking on a site in Birmingham?
Tell us about it and a Senior Architect will give you an initial appraisal and guide you as to what to do next.
Start a conversationCommon questions · 04
Questions about building in Birmingham.
Do you work on projects in Birmingham?
Yes, and across the city. Fifty-two apartments were delivered on a canalside site off Cliveland Street, forty more on a former car park off Broad Street, sixty-four from two empty office blocks in Sheldon, and a warehouse extension consented at Perry Barr. You get architects who have already worked through Birmingham City Council's process, backed by a record reaching more than 100 planning authorities.
Is Birmingham City Council difficult to get planning permission from?
Birmingham is demanding rather than obstructive, and it is busy. The council tells applicants it is handling a high volume of applications with limited resources, so a submission that arrives complete keeps moving and one with gaps waits. Detail is what separates them.
Does Birmingham have a five year housing land supply?
It does. The council reported 6.45 years of deliverable supply in its position statement of October 2025. Under the August 2026 national framework that matters less than it did: housing inside the city starts from a presumption in its favour whatever the supply. The surplus does not protect the edge of the city either. The Housing Delivery Test published in August 2026 scored Birmingham at 57 per cent, and below 75 per cent national policy treats an unmet need for housing as shown, which opens well-related sites on the edge of the city outside the Green Belt.
How much affordable housing does Birmingham City Council want?
Policy TP31 seeks 35 per cent affordable homes on residential development of fifteen dwellings or more. Birmingham applies the same expectation to build to rent rather than the 20 per cent national guidance suggests, so it belongs in the appraisal before a price is agreed.
Do I need planning permission to turn a house into an HMO in Birmingham?
Yes. A city-wide Article 4 direction has applied since June 2020, so the permitted right to convert a home into a small house in multiple occupation no longer exists anywhere in the city. Policy DM11 then holds these uses to 10 per cent of properties within a hundred metres, with further rules on sandwiching and continuous frontages.
Does Birmingham City Council charge Community Infrastructure Levy?
It does, on housing in the higher value zones and at nothing in the lower ones, so which zone a site falls in is worth establishing first. Offices, industrial floorspace, leisure, education and health are charged at nil across the city.
Can an empty office in Birmingham become flats?
Often, yes, and the city has a great deal of stock where it is the obvious route. There is a prior approval route for offices and other Class E buildings, and a full application where that does not fit. Which one applies depends on the lawful use, the building itself and the residential standards it has to meet, so it is worth settling before you buy.
