Listed Jewellery Quarter factory reborn as homes as £3.5m deal backs apartment sales

A Grade II listed former factory in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter has been given a new life as homes, with a £3.5 million finance deal now supporting the sale of its apartments.

The development on Constitution Hill combines the conversion of the historic building, once home to the manufacturer Taylor & Challen, with a contemporary new-build block alongside it. It includes one- and two-bedroom apartments, duplex homes and ground-floor commercial space, and a number of the homes are designated as affordable housing.

From lathes and presses to living space

The building was formerly a lathe and press works, part of the dense network of small factories and workshops that made the Jewellery Quarter one of Birmingham's great centres of making. Its faded lettering and red-brick frontage have been a familiar sight on Constitution Hill for decades.

Following the conversion and extension, the development is now valued at £5 million.

Secure Trust Bank has provided development exit finance to the city-based developer ETME Group to support the sale of 15 apartments. Exit finance helps developers repay construction borrowing while finished homes are being sold, giving them time to find buyers rather than having to sell in a hurry.

"Heritage conversions don't come round every day"

Alan Coleman, relationship director at Secure Trust Bank, who arranged the finance and has worked with ETME Group for seven years, said: "I'm particularly thrilled to have helped with such an interesting asset in a popular spot of Birmingham.

"Heritage conversions of this nature don't come round every day, but we were able to make the deal work, and we can now look forward to what ETME Group will do next."

The bank said the deal took just under two months from first enquiry to final drawdown.

VJ Chopra, managing director at ETME Group, said the listed status and affordable homes had made the funding more complicated. "However, Alan's expert knowledge and ability to structure the deal to overcome these factors were excellent," he said.

Bringing old buildings back

Schemes like this are an important part of how the Jewellery Quarter has changed over the past three decades. Many of its old workshops and factories have been converted into flats, offices, bars and studios, while jewellery businesses still trade in the area. Keeping historic buildings in use, rather than letting them decay, protects the character that makes the quarter one of the city's most popular places to live.

The inclusion of affordable homes in the Constitution Hill scheme is a welcome detail, at a time when Birmingham needs more homes that local people can afford, particularly close to the city centre.

For passers-by, it means an old factory building that is once again in use, with its industrial past still part of the street scene.