It houses British luxury department store chain Harvey Nichols, and the BBC Birmingham studios.

Previously the location of a railway goods yard with canal wharves off the Worcester and Birmingham Canal leading to Gas Street Basin, the site was the location of the Royal Mail's main sorting office building for Birmingham (hence its current name) which was completed in 1970, replacing the Victorian head post office (now Victoria Square House), in Victoria Square.

[3] It also housed the administrative teams moved from Victoria Square, including those for other Post Office functions, such as counter services.

The exterior consisted mainly of the glass slabs and projecting air handling units with recessed windows.

[clarification needed] Chatham had been an important figure in the regeneration of Birmingham, working with Argent Group to develop Brindleyplace.

It was paved with natural stone and as well as being a social area, it was also designed to allow the easy movement of visitors to, from and around the building.

A mixed-use building called the Cube, designed by Birmingham born architect Ken Shuttleworth's practice Make Architects with Buro Happold engineers forms the final phase of the Mailbox development and houses a rooftop restaurant, boutique hotel and residential flats.

In 2004, BBC Birmingham moved into a new complex of studios at the Mailbox that replaced the previous Pebble Mill site in Edgbaston.

On 31 October 2005, 81-year-old actress Mary Wimbush died at the Mailbox studios shortly after a recording session for The Archers.

[7] On 30 May 2013, Milligan Retail announced that the Mailbox would undergo a major renovation, designed by Stirling Prize winners Stanton Williams, which would see a roof installed over the shopping complex's atrium.

It was also announced that Brockton Capital and Milligan would work in co-ordination with Birmingham City Council to improve the public area reaching from the underpass beneath Suffolk Street Queensway to the front of Mailbox.

These changes would be implemented to complement the redevelopment of New Street station which will house a full-line John Lewis department store.