The Belgrade Plaza is a £113 million

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

city centre in

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Construction

The Belgrade Plaza was built by construction firm, Oakmoor Deeley. The development had two phases. The first – a 1,100 space car park – opened in 2007. The second phase has two hotels, a casino, restaurants, bars and apartments to the area between the

Belgrade Theatre The Belgrade Theatre is a live performance venue in Coventry, England. It was the first civic theatre to be built in Britain after the Second World War and is now a Grade II listed building. Background Coventry was the fastest growing city in ...

and the ring road. Gala Casino, Premier Travel Inn, Radisson Edwardian, Pizza Express, Bella Italia and Metro Bar& Grill have been installed near the Belgrade Plaza multistorey car park. On 12 March 2008, construction workers at the site discovered an unexploded

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

bomb, which had been dropped during the

Coventry Blitz The Coventry Blitz (blitz: from the German word ''Blitzkrieg'' meaning "lightning war" ) or Coventration of the city was a series of bombing raids that took place on the British city of Coventry. The city was bombed many times during the Seco ...

. The site was evacuated and a cordon of 500-metres was enforced. Many workers were forced to exit their offices and leave their vehicles in car parks overnight. Army experts carried out a controlled explosion on the bomb at 2.41 a.m. on 13 March 2008. Work resumed at 10 a.m. the following morning.

References

External links

Belgrade Plaza websiteIn video: Controlled bomb explosion
BBC News. {{coord, 52.41043, -1.51455, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Coventry Buildings and structures in Coventry Tourist attractions in the West Midlands (county)