Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
A Birmingham-based builders merchant has opened a design centre featuring the largest accessible commercial brick display in Britain, and the biggest showcase of bricks in Europe. EH Smith Architectural Solutions, part of the EH Smith Group, has opened the landmark Digbeth Design Centre in a sensitively restored 150-year-old industrial building on Bradford Street, Birmingham.
It’s EH Smith’s first city centre presence since the 1960s and has been created as a hub for design inspiration, industry collaboration, and professional learning. It brings together an extensive range of materials and fabrications, from facades and civils to innovative new building products, offering a single destination for exploring solutions to the sector’s most pressing challenges, including sustainability and evolving fire safety regulations.
It features a vast array of bricks, facades and construction products from leading UK and European manufacturers, as well as masonry support systems, detailing solutions, and large-scale samples, as well as a hands-on demonstration area for visitors to ‘have a go’.
John Cave, executive director of EH Smith Group, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to open our new Design Centre in Digbeth – a part of Birmingham that’s full of energy and transformation. Just a couple of miles from the Small Heath railway sidings where EH Smith’s story first began, it feels like a fitting new chapter for us.
“Smithfield and Digbeth are fast becoming a hive of activity, and we’re proud to be right at the heart of it. What was once a modest Victorian warehouse has been reimagined into a vibrant new destination for the Midlands’ construction and design community.
“This has been a true collaboration – with our partners at Howells, and with so many talented people from Birmingham’s architecture and creative industries. We can’t wait to welcome architects, designers and construction professionals to explore, connect and be inspired in our new home.”
The building’s refurbishment process, led by EH Smith, has revealed and celebrated various layers of the building’s industrial past. During the renovation, previously hidden structural phases and construction challenges were uncovered and resolved, adding depth and character to the final design. The result is a striking exterior transformation with a stunning new terracotta façade by Portuguese ceramic specialists, Soladrilho. The centre also features several artist-led and architect-designed installations and artworks, developed in collaboration with local creative businesses and practices, to reflect the wide range of façade and material possibilities available to specifiers today.
