Snow Hill Homeless Scheme

dormakaba combines aesthetics and security at  £10M flagship homeless scheme

As part of the Government’s ‘Places of Change’ scheme, designed to improve the quality of homeless accommodation in the UK, Midland Heart’s £10 million Snow Hill project has seen the transformation of one of Birmingham’s largest supported housing schemes. Over half of the 92 self-contained apartments have been used to help those who are ready to move on from direct access accommodation to independent living.

Part new-build and part refurbishment of an existing 60 year old building, the Snow Hill project provides ground breaking mixed use accommodation that will benefit individuals who have experienced homelessness and private renters seeking affordable city centre accommodation.

dormakaba’s contribution to the project
During the creation of the building’s stylish new lobby area, a feature entrance that maximised the use of natural daylight was required. Having specified dormakaba products on a range of projects in the past, Hulme Upright once again turned to dormakaba for their proven product reliability. The elegant, functional and energy efficient dormakaba KTV glass automatic revolving door provided the stunning finish to the new light-filled entrance and lobby.

As part of the refurbishment, the building’s original structural columns had to remain. To accommodate this, dormakaba installed the revolving door off centre alongside a series of associated fixed glazed screens to create the modern and minimalist glass frontage.

The dormakaba KTV revolving door acts as a permanent lobby which keeps out noise, dirt and draughts – effectively separating internal and external environments. This helps to reduce the building’s energy usage, wastage and cost.

To the side of this stunning revolving door, and in compliance with the Equality Act and Building regulations, dormakaba also supplied and installed 2 x dormakaba ES 200 bi-parting sliding doors. Used to create an easy access pass door, the dormakaba ES 200 offers a quick, smooth and virtually silent motion.

Featured products in this project