New lease of life for historic Birmingham icon

Baskerville House in Centenary Square was originally built in the 1930s on the site of John Baskerville’s former home. Today, it offers grade A office space with upgraded communal facilities - thanks to Monteith Scott and Overbury.

The project, which was designed by Birmingham based interior architects Monteith Scott and carried out by Overbury, began in April 2015. It includes new revolving entrance doors, a relocated reception desk to create a more welcoming approach for visitors and a more discrete, dedicated route for occupiers.

Danny Parmar, business development manager at Overbury said: “Baskerville House is a landmark building in the heart of Birmingham. It already offers prime office space across six floors, but thanks to Monteith Scott’s brilliant design and the work of our experienced fit out team, the building now has a modern reception and lobby to match.”

Monteith Scott has a long-standing relationship with Baskerville House, having carried out refurbishment work earlier this year on the offices of Marketing Birmingham.

Managing director Alison Monteith said: “Key to our design at Baskerville House was creating a new space befitting the modern, high quality office space throughout the rest of the building. However, we were also keen to ensure that the new fit out complemented the iconic art deco style of the original design. We’re confident that the end result has achieved this and we’re looking forward to seeing the space in use.”

Baskerville House is one of a number of Overbury projects in recent months that have seen the owners of office buildings in the West Midlands undertaking speculative refurbishments.

Danny Parmar added: “It is well known that existing Grade A office space in Birmingham City Centre is in demand as no new buildings will be coming to market for a couple of years. As a result, we’re seeing an increase in landlords speculatively refurbishing their office space to attract new tenants.”

As well as Baskerville House, Overbury is currently working on office refurbishments at The Mailbox for Brockton Capital, IM Properties at No 1 Central Boulevard and last year delivered similar work at Birmingham Business Park for British Steel Pension Fund and 1 Trinity Park for Presbyterian Mutual.