Two become one with Hemisphere

Mon, Mar 13th 2006, 11:00

Fuse urban energy with rural relaxation and live a double life at Redrow’s Hemisphere at Edgbaston Mill.

Redrow will create 344 one and two-bedroom apartments and penthouses opposite at the flagship Edgbaston Mill development, adjacent to Warwickshire County Cricket Club, to establish a landmark contemporary apartment scheme called ‘Hemisphere’.

Hemisphere’s unrivalled location overlooking the cricket ground, between Cannon Hill Park’s 57 acres and the vibrant Birmingham metropolis, gives Redrow a rare opportunity to combine two types of lifestyles and offer all the associated benefits.

Indeed, Redrow has given the development the name ‘Hemisphere’ because its rural and urban elements are two halves of one life.

Dr Chris Spencer, a professor of environmental psychology at Sheffield University, confirms that by combining both rural and urban living people can reap the psychological benefits of both.

 

He says: “The environment, as we respond to it emotionally, influences our well being, the way we feel, the way we work, even our health, in a more profound way than was until now assumed. This includes the importance of the natural environment for our well-being and the social buzz of the city.

“Most people have had to choose between town and country but the placement of Hemisphere, with Britain’s second largest city to one side and a great expanse of leafy parkland to the other, has found a way to combine rural and urban and the psychological benefits of both.”

The beautiful Cannon Hill Park is on the doorstep with its wildflower meadow, lakes and woodlands plus tennis courts, bowling and putting greens, cycle routes alongside the River Rea and footpaths for walking and running – and it is all good for you.

Dr Spencer explains: “No longer need we make unsupported intuitive assertions that ‘green is good for you’. Now we have a strong evidence base, running all the way from controlled laboratory studies on relaxation and the reduction of stress, to broad-scale surveys on the benefits of rural life.

“Thus for example, greener settings have been shown to promote neighbourliness, reduce inattention in school, calm disruptive children and, in a hospital setting, speed patients’ recovery compared with similar patients in wards with urban views from the ward windows.”

As the name ‘Hemisphere’ suggests, rural beauty and respite is only half the story. Less than a mile away in the other direction is Birmingham city centre with its awesome shopping, clubs, bars, entertainment and cultural diversions.

“Towns and cities are the places where needs can be met – and nurtured,” says Dr Spencer. “They afford a social buzz with friends, the general excitement of a crowd and the opposite sex. Also, the pleasure of shopping rates high in people’s estimate of a location’s appeal.”

If home hunters want the option to pick-up the pace of life then internationally regarded attractions like The Bullring, Millennium Point, Brindleyplace, The National Indoor Arena, The Mailbox and Symphony Hall are all easily accessible.

Linda Androlia, sales director for Redrow Homes (West Midlands), says: “Hemisphere will be a breathtaking apartment scheme finished to the highest standard with an unrivalled specification but it’s the location that steals the show. The fact that residents can be jogging through acres of beautiful parkland and then, less than an hour later, can be showered, changed and in the thick of the city action is fantastic. It really is two lifestyles in one.”

Hemisphere will be the flagship residential scheme within the £100 million nine acre mixed-use scheme Edgbaston Mill, which will become a prestigious place to both live and work and will include commercial, retail, hotel and leisure space.

The venture will be launched this spring with prices starting at circa £160,000.

To register your interest in both sides of life call the sales hotline on 0845 676 0515.