The Existing Assay Office

The development of a new home for the Birmingham Assay Office is an exciting stage in the Assay Office’s history and in the continued regeneration of the Jewellery Quarter. The Birmingham Assay Office is one of Birmingham’s oldest institutions and is the largest Assay Office in the world. It has a statutory duty to hallmark precious metals such as jewellery and silverware. It was founded in 1773 and has been located in the current Assay Office building on Newhall Street for 135 years. The Assay Office employs some 150 members of staff and has
hallmarked over 100 million articles since 2000. The building which currently houses the Assay

Office is Grade II Listed. It has been extended and added to several times during its history and is now a maze of different working areas. The space is inflexible, inefficient and expensive to
maintain.

The Assay Office has expanded into other specialist areas serving the precious metal, jewellery and gemstone industries. As a consequence, it has outgrown this building and has taken the decision to move to purpose built new premises elsewhere in the Jewellery Quarter. This will enable the Assay Office to remain in the Jewellery Quarter, supporting the Jewellery Trade, whilst ensuring its continued commercial viability.

The new building will offer better facilities and personal security to staff and customers and will also enable wider public access to the resources, which the Birmingham Assay Office has to offer in terms of its private Library and Silver Collection.

The development is a collaboration between the Assay Office and the St Georges Partnership (Chord Investments Ltd and Deeley Properties).

...Back >