The Birmingham Post & Mail is preparing to move out of its city centre base to new offices at former tyre factory Fort Dunlop.

Planning has begun for the move next year to the base in Castle Vale on the city fringe, and design consultants are working to produce a “radical” layout for the combined newsroom of The Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail, Sunday Mercury and several weekly titles.

The news group, which has been based in the city centre for 150 years, will occupy the whole of Fort Dunlop’s sixth floor – which is the only new one in the development and was built on top of the original tyre factory during its refurbishment.

Announcing the move in the Post & Mail, Trinity Mirror Midlands managing director John Bills said the move was a “milestone” for the business.

He said: “While it is sad in some ways to be leaving the city centre, Fort Dunlop represents all that is best about the regeneration of Birmingham.

“It’s a landmark building that has been brought right up to date and given a new lease of life for the 21st century.

“In a way, that’s exactly what we’re doing with our publishing brands as we become a truly multimedia business.

“It is also an incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to design from scratch the layout of the office in a way that allows our journalists and staff to work in the new ways demanded by the digital revolution.”

The newspapers are currently based in a building on Colmore Circus that has been sold for office redevelopment.

Branch offices are to be retained around the city for news teams to operate from.

Fort Dunlop, a former tyre factory, stood abandoned for 25 years before developers Urban Splash reinvented it as a office, retail and leisure space.

Confirmation of the move comes in the same week as Trinity Mirror decided to withdraw the Birmingham Mail and its sister titles from sale.