Four years from now Birmingham's vibrant canal network could be home to the future of environmentally friendly city living.
Developers behind The Narrowhouse at 52 Gas Street hope the project will serve as an exemplar of how sustainable living can be and what future buildings could look like.
Birmingham-based GNM Developments is leading the £70 million scheme which is due to be discussed by city planning chiefs in the coming weeks and, subject to receiving their backing, could be open and operational in 2029.
The vision is to demolish the canalside, ageing former nightclub building at 52 Gas Street and replace it with a modern apartment block which will reach 29 storeys at its peak. It will contain more than 200 co-living units and a mix of leisure and workspaces.
But the pièce de résistance will be around 43,800 sq ft of solar panels adorning its exterior which will generate enough power for the building's residents and feed surplus into a local microgrid.
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The project is claimed to be the world's tallest so-called 'energy-positive' building - something that produces more energy than it uses via renewable sources - and also a º£½ÇÊÓƵ first.
GNM Developments managing director Gerald Manton talked BusinessLive through the plans ahead of that crucial decision by the council's planning committee.
He explained that it was the application site's narrowness, between Gas Street and the canal towpath, which was a key factor in the design of the scheme.
"The key feature which allows this building to be energy positive is obviously the solar cladding but also that 8.5-metre width," he said.
"If it were any wider, it wouldn't be energy positive anymore because there would be too much internal floor area. It's the confines of this site and its orientation to south which is what's made it perfect for energy positivity.
"It's like the stars aligned. It's the right thing to do and the right place to do it.
"When you realise you have the potential to have an energy positive building before you even start, you can then bake that into the design.
"If it can be done and it's financially viable then you are morally obliged to make sure that route is explored."
The project was first launched last summer as 'Gather & Soul' and was set to contain 161 co-living apartments and a host of other amenities across two blocks of seven and 15 storeys respectively.
The plans, designed by architecture firm Broadway Malyan, then went back to the drawing and were relaunched in March under the new name of The Narrowhouse, inspired by both the canal and the aforementioned slender footprint of the site.
The overall vision is to create 249 new co-living studios for rent only, each with their own bathroom and small kitchen, in a new building reaching up to 29 storeys.
Co-living is still a relatively unknown concept in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ outside of London, whereby private apartments will be built alongside communal spaces such as shared kitchens, lounges and work areas in a bid to encourage a sense of community.
Rents are likely to be around £300 per week.
There will also be a cinema, podcast and media rooms, gym and a rooftop terrace, a walkway connecting to the canal and a café next to the tollhouse with a license for seating along the length of the towpath.
The vast majority of materials from the demolished building will be incorporated into the new scheme while its neighbouring tollhouse, built in 1875, will be retained and contain four apartments.
It has had several previous uses including as a gun factory, a stables for the canal and home to legendary local nightclub Bobby Browns before it closed down in 2003.
Despite its varied and interesting history, the site is not listed and the interior of 52 Gas Street has clearly seen better days.
The ground floor is still in use as a bar called Verve Lounge, although that only trades two nights a week, while the upper floors contain the abandoned remnants of its former life including unopened bottles of booze and a garish, purple grand piano.
The exterior has boarded up windows and shrubbery growing out of the pipework. It is a mess.
When the revamped plans were unveiled in March, it is safe to say they were not universally loved, with one social media user describing them as "one of the worst proposals" they had ever seen while the Birmingham Canals Navigation Society has also spoken out against the project.
Mr Manton says they took inspiration from similar projects in countries such as Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands but concedes you cannot please everyone.
"This looks different because it is different," he said.
"Design is subjective, buildings can be like Marmite. Some can love them and some can hate them. Look at The Cube just over the road from here.
"I think that's a fantastic building but when that was first built people didn't like it."
Assuming The Narrowhouse gets the green light in the summer, this will be followed by up to 18 months of work before demolition can begin after which construction is expected to run to autumn 2029.
Discussions are currently ongoing with possible funders including high street banks and private investors.
Mr Manton concluded: "Gas Street is named because it was the first place in Birmingham which generated gas.
"It has so much history, that's why it's the right place to do this. It's gone from gaslight to sunlight. This is the future of energy generation, the future of what the Government is telling us they want."
