The Mailbox is one of the many developments in Birmingham which have, among other things provided more living space near to the central business district (CBD). The mailbox was built on the site of an old post sorting office, hence the name. This means it was built on a Brownfield site. The apartments in the mailbox are aimed at executives who work and want easy access to the city centre. Many of the forty shops are also aimed at the independent sector of society and those on the upper end of the pay scales. The building contains a range of functions including: - 40 shops 2 hotels, one of them opens in apartments New headquarters of BBC Birmingham. The mailbox spreads over 25 acres of land and is thought to be the biggest multi- purpose building in Birmingham and the Midlands The mailbox is a regenerated building. Its shell is the same as that of the original sorting office.

The mailbox, as is shown here by the green arrow, is very easy to access. It can also be noted that it is close, within walking distance that is, of the main banking and office area of Colmore Row. It is also easily accessible via cars as well due to its closeness to the inner ring road and good sign posting. It is also easy to access by train with its closeness to New Street Station and Moor Street Station.

The mailbox is a prominent feature at the side of the Suffolk Street Queensway. It is in the middle of a fairly built - up urban area, as can be seen on the aerial photographs. Local high - rise buildings. Suffolk Street Queensway

There are many shops in the mailbox including:- Hugo Boss, DKNY, Harvey Nichols and Toni & Guy Essensuals. They are situated on a two tier waterfront walkway. The whole complex contains, as previously mentioned, 40 shops. All of these are exclusive shops and many will not be found on the common city high street. The number of shops and services that the mailbox provides, means that it will have a sphere of influence.

A typical apartment in the mailbox would comprise of: - An entrance hall Lounge/dining room Integrated kitchen Two bedrooms (master en- suite) There are more exclusive penthouse apartments at the top of the mailbox with views out over the canal or the city. Some of the apartments The price of an apartment in the mailbox varies between about £225,000 and £350,000

There are soon to be two hotels in the mailbox. One of them is a Days Inn and the other is going to be a Malmaison. The Days Inn hotel contains 90 bedrooms and it is described as being along the waterfront (the canal) and it therefore has views out over it. Malmaison will be a larger, more up- market, hotel. It opens in the autumn of 2002 and will contain 200 rooms, a spa and pool, a health club and conference facilities. It is estimated as being a four star hotel

In this project I did not require any books for the research. I did, however, use the internet a lot. My pictures of the mailbox came from my location map and aerial photographs came from My basic background information came from Further detailed information came from: -