TP Bennett has drawn up proposals to substantially remodel Birmingham’s oldest still-operational department store, adding an extra three storeys and a roof garden that references Le Corbusier to the post-war building.

The practice designed the House of Fraser store – still better known to most Brummies by its original name of Rackhams – in the 1950s, and it was built out in phases over more than two decades.

But while the new scheme, created for property owner Legal & General Assurance, would presereve much of the existing structure’s exterior, its future use would be focused on office and leisure uses with just two floors dedicated to retail.

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