A pioneering Build to Rent community that helped unlock Digbeth’s residential regeneration.
Client Ridgeback Group and Keady Construction
Project Role Design
Scale 237 homes
Status Complete
Hairpin House sits within Digbeth, an area shaped by industry, infrastructure and a distinctive warehouse townscape. Long defined by hard edges and working buildings, the neighbourhood presented a clear challenge: how to introduce high-quality homes that support long-term living while retaining the character and intensity that make Digbeth recognisable. The ambition for the site was not simply residential delivery, but to help demonstrate how Digbeth could evolve into a place where people genuinely choose to live, while remaining true to its identity.
Translating industrial character into contemporary living
Working closely with the client and consultant team, we reimagined the consented scheme as a class-leading Build to Rent development, shaped around everyday use, durability and community. Responding to a constrained and tightly bounded site, we organised the development as three interconnected blocks that sit confidently on the street edge, reinforcing Digbeth’s established urban grain. A new route through the site improves movement and legibility, connecting Bradford Street with Warwick Street and opening up the heart of the development to light, landscape and shared space.
The homes are supported by a rich sequence of internal and external amenity spaces designed to encourage interaction while respecting privacy. A two-level residents’ hub provides a clear front door to the development, offering spaces to work, meet, relax and arrive home with ease. Courtyards and landscaped areas bring relief within the dense urban setting, while roof gardens at multiple levels create places to pause, connect and take in long views back across Birmingham’s city centre. Apartment layouts prioritise generous proportions, consistency and long-term usability, ensuring the scheme performs both as a home and as a managed rental asset.
Architecturally, the development draws directly from Digbeth’s industrial heritage. Brick-led façades, strong structural rhythm and deep reveals reinterpret the language of local warehouses in a contemporary way, creating a building that feels rooted in place while clearly of its time. Close collaboration with the local authority helped establish an appropriate scale and massing for the site, supporting increased residential density while respecting surrounding context.
Creating homes, community and confidence for Digbeth’s future
Now complete, Hairpin House delivers 237 high-quality homes and the first purpose-designed Build to Rent community in Digbeth. For residents, it offers more than apartments: it provides spaces to connect, work and unwind, supporting everyday life in a neighbourhood in transition.
For the client, it demonstrates how thoughtful design can strengthen commercial performance and long-term value.
And for Digbeth, it sets a people-centred benchmark for how former industrial land can be transformed into sustainable, lived-in urban places—reflecting our approach to shaping better everyday environments.
“With Hairpin House, our ambition was always to create more than just apartments. We wanted to shape a place that supports everyday life and fosters a genuine sense of community. The positive feedback from residents shows that this approach really works.”
Executive Director
Awards
2024
Midlands Property Awards, Apartment Development of the Year Shortlisted
