Tetra Tech worked on The Mercian, a 42-storey build-to-rent tower in Birmingham delivering 481 high-quality apartments for city-living professionals.
Boasting high-quality amenity space, creating a modern community lies at the heart of this prestigious project. Mercian residents benefit from a gym, health centre, dining club, residents’ lounge and a 200m rooftop running track on the third-floor terrace, one of the first in the UK’s housing market.
The Mercian is now operating and includes 310 co-working spaces, offering a relaxed, flexible environment with private meeting rooms, perfect for modern day working life.
Challenge
Operating as Project Managers, Employer’s Agent, and Client Health & Safety Advisor on this complex city-centre project, amidst Brexit and Covid uncertainty, presented us with multiple challenges.
We had to address the planning, design, practical, logistical, and legal challenges inherent in constructing a tall residential building with limited site access in a city-centre location. Part of this involved accounting for surrounding developments, such as the new metro extension, as well as managing and engaging multiple stakeholders, including responding to a pivotal change in contractor.
Our role required assisting our client during early stages to overcome planning, design, and procurement challenges, involving a range of significant technical, commercial, and planning complexities characteristic of the tallest residential building in Birmingham.
In the construction stage we have worked collaboratively with the project team through the Covid pandemic, ensuring that completion of construction and subsequent occupation remained in line with scheduled progress.
Solution
Acting pragmatically, we responded to these problems with clear communication to our client and stakeholders, employing our excellent understanding of the unique planning, design, cost, procurement, and construction challenges of tall residential buildings.
- Supported the project team to secure an implementable planning consent that was consistent with our client’s brief and commercial objectives.
- Following the liquidation of our previous PCSA contractor, we successfully formalised a bespoke procurement strategy for Moda leading to a replacement contract being appointed and work commencing in the Spring of 2019.
- Throughout the entire project we have established and maintained a risk and change management process, ensuring absolute delivery by maintaining a modern and adaptable approach, responding to Moda’s evolving brand and incorporating these changes into the design.
- In reaction to Brexit and Covid complications, we achieved quality, programme, and cost certainty for our client by negotiating agreements with the entire project team, main contractor, and European suppliers.
At a glance
Client
Moda Living
Location
Birmingham
Services
Client health and safety advisor, employer’s agent, project management
The project featured in this article was undertaken by RPS, A Tetra Tech Company and originally published on RPSgroup.com. In March 2026 RPS rebranded to Tetra Tech.