city centre's peregrine falcons. Architectural critic Andy Foster described the building as being "the most important Brutalist commercial building in the city, disastrous in context but with its own tremendous integrity." Approved replacement In December 2006 British Land acquired the freehold of the tower from Omega Land for £25 million. A planning application was submitted in April 2008 for demolition of the existing tower and replacement with a 35-storey office building with ground floor retail. The proposed building would be 134.5 m to roof level and 159.5 m to the top of a light mast on the side of the tower. Designed by Hamilton Architects the projected cost was £160 million. The proposal initially received the backing of the Birmingham Civic Society who said that they were 90% happy with the design, however the organisation reversed their decision. The project also met objections from the Twentieth Century Society and the Victorian Society who commented that they were "extremely disappointed" with the proposal. After the public consultation, unsuccessful efforts were made to grant the building listed status from English Heritage. It was concluded that the building had good qualities of massing but lacked the high degree of sophisticated architectural detailing that would be expected of a building from this period. They also said that modifications made to the building in the 1990s had considerably compromised the building's architecture and that the interior lacked coherence, although they did comment that the interior of the banking hall did contain many interesting original features. The building received a Certificate of Immunity from Listing in October 2008 which would last until October 2013. The proposal received planning permission from Birmingham City Council in September 2008. It was closely contested with six councillors voting against the scheme and seven voting for it. Due to the effects of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, British Land could not progress the approved scheme, planning permission expired in 2011 and the building was sold in 2014. New ownership On 29 September 2014 the building received another Certificate of Immunity from Listing to be effective until 28 September 2019. In its report, English Heritage stated: "while the component parts of the building are well grouped and form an effective addition to the streetscape of this part of central Birmingham and to the skyline, the building has however been considerably altered and no longer forms the cogent grouping which was initially created.