DEVELOPMENT & PLACE

O ver the past three decades Birmingham has transformed its city centre through a series of coordinated large-scale infrastructure projects. These have marked a distinct change in direction from the modernisation programme followed by the city at the end of the second world war. Back then, the city, badly damaged by bombing, was looking to reassert its position as the UK’s second city. The city’s engineer and surveyor, Herbert Manzoni, inspired by the Modernist architectural movement, seized the opportunity to create a new transport network for the city. Centred on the car, his vision for a city centre of major roads, linked by traffic islands and tunnels, was largely realised during the 1960s. The result, the inner ring road, was completed in 1971. The economic boom of the late 1980s heralded the start of a strategic rethinking of Birmingham’s The city council has demonstrated sustained strong civic leadership, which has been crucial in allowing it to oversee the delivery of substantive physical improvements. WHAT IS THE BIG CITY PLAN? The Big City Plan was launched in 2008 and is the City Council’s 20 year blueprint for growth of the city core. The Plan is made up of a suite of documents and masterplans. Stage 2, the City Centre Masterplan, was launched in 2010, the Eastside Masterplan was released in 2011, and the Snow Hill Masterplan, Birmingham Curzon HS2 Masterplan and City Centre Retail Strategy were released in 2015. More than £1bn of public investment has now been spent or committed to the city centre. The Plan aims to significantly increase the size of the city core (by up to 25%), improve transport connectivity and sets out visionary proposals for each of the seven ‘quarters’ it defines as making up the city centre. It outlines how the city centre population will grow, aiming to provide more than 5,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs. Delivery of key project milestones to date includes Eastside City Park (opened in 2012), the new Library of Birmingham (2013) and the redeveloped New Street Station (2015). central area. The reopening of Snow Hill station and the creation of a tram network a decade later marked a move away from the dominance of the car. Innovative regeneration schemes like Brindleyplace, opened in 1994, highlighted the arrival of true mixed-use development. Brindleyplace, together with the National Indoor Arena, International Convention Centre and Symphony Hall, all opened in 1991, were bringing about rapid change on the Birmingham Canal, consolidated in 2000 by The Mailbox, a mixed- use redevelopment of the former Royal Mail sorting office. In spite of changing political allegiances over this period, the City Council has demonstrated sustained strong civic leadership, which has been crucial in allowing it to oversee the delivery of substantive physical improvements. A continuous process of bringing forward developments has had a ripple effect in their immediate areas. This strategic development process was formalised a decade ago with the launch of the Big City Plan in 2008 (see box) driven by ‘Big Moves’, ‘Big Ideas’ and ‘Connectivity’. The Plan recognised the need to grow the city’s core by dismantling the inner ring road (by now known less affectionately as the 'concrete collar') and encouraging the creation of pedestrian and cycle-friendly transport routes. 10 years on, regional devolution, including the election of a West Midlands mayor (ex-John Lewis chief executive, Andy Street) in 2017, and proposed extensions to the tram network (to Digbeth, Edgbaston, Brierley Hill and Solihull) are set to consolidate and build on the pattern of change that has so successfully regenerated the city centre. Birmingham has successfully regenerated its core over three decades through a programme of major infrastructure improvements. And it has no intention of stopping… BIG CITY, BIG PLANS Julian Greenhalgh, Cushman & Wakefield Words by: Birmingham canals 30 31 CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD DEVELOPMENT & PLACE