The Big City Plan is a major development plan for the city centre of Birmingham, England.
Stage 2 of the Big City Plan, the City Centre Masterplan was launched on 29 September 2010. This masterplan sets out how the city centre of Birmingham will be improved over the next 20 years. The plan identifies five key areas of development potentially worth £10 billion.Architects Journal Overview of Masterplan
The aim of this ambitious plan will be to increase the size of the city core by 25%, improving transport connectivity throughout the seven ‘quarters’ that make up the city centre. It identifies how the city centre population will grow providing more than 5,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs, as well as the £600 million redevelopment of New Street station, opened in September 2015, a new Library of Birmingham which opened in September 2013 and Eastside City Park which was opened in 2012, the first new city centre park since Victorian times. It also sets out visionary proposals in which each of the seven 'quarters' will be able to evolve.
Origins
The city was subject to a widespread regeneration effort following the Birmingham Blitz during World War II. This public demand for modern buildings, combined with Victorian architectural styles falling out of favour, resulted in dozens of fine Victorian buildings like the intricate glass-roofed Birmingham New Street station, and the old Central Library being destroyed in the 1950s and 1960s by the city planners. These planning decisions were to have a profound effect on the image of Birmingham in subsequent decades, with the mix of concrete ring roads, shopping centres and tower blocks giving Birmingham a 'concrete jungle' tag. Sir Herbert Manzoni was made city engineer of Birmingham and his work included the construction of the Inner Ring Road, Middle Ring Road and the Outer Ring Road, which necessitated the purchase and clearance of vast areas of land. As well as this, he designated large areas of land redevelopment areas and set about clearing large areas of slums. The elevated roadways and the ring roads gave Birmingham the tag; "Britain's motor city".Tackling congestion in Birmingham – BBC News, 13 February 2003 Stephen Bayley writing in The Observer in 2008 described Manzoni's vision of Birmingham as a "Godless, concrete urban hell . . . obsolete before it was finished", while Ross Reyburn in The Guardian said the city had become a "brutalist, concrete-dominated slave to the motor car".
In the mid-1980s, Birmingham City Council decided they needed to change the public perception of Birmingham and improve the livability of the city. The first main aim was to target the areas in the city centre that had not been developed following World War II, such as the canals. The council worked closely with Argent, a developer, who redeveloped the area around the canals into a mixed use scheme Brindleyplace, which began in 1994 and was completed in early 2009. This development followed the construction of the National Indoor Arena and the International Convention Centre, which were both completed in 1991.
Another major part of the plan was to change the skyline of the city, which mainly consisted of postwar office buildings. Through the creation of the "High Places" document, the council aimed to encourage highrise development in the city once more.
In 2007, a report was commissioned by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Whitby. The result was The Birmingham City Centre Masterplan: The Visioning Study by Professor Michael Parkinson. The Big City Plan was launched in February 2008. Between December 2008 and February 2009 there was an extensive public consultation stage, engaging with citizens in a variety of ways: a website, newspaper supplements, leaflets, posters, a conference, and even an exhibition on a bus that toured inner-city residential districts.
Districts
Following the removal of the Inner Ring Road, which acted as a 'concrete collar' preventing expansion, the city centre is newly defined as being the area within the Middle Ring Road. The Big City Plan divided the now much bigger city centre into seven districts, each with its own distinct character.
City Centre Core Eastside Digbeth Southside and Highgate Westside and Ladywood Jewellery Quarter Gun Quarter
City Centre Core
Bull Ring
A large part of the scheme was the redevelopment of the Bull Ring, which has been an important feature of Birmingham since the Middle Ages, when its market was first held. It has been developed into a shopping centre twice, first in 1964, but its Brutalist architecture became much disliked by the public and the building was seen as a major part of Birmingham's "concrete jungle" image.New adventures in concrete - BBC Magazine, 5 September 2003 Realising the need for major changes to the city centre, an alliance of investment and development companies was formed called the Birmingham Alliance who put the finance together to design and construct the new £500 million Bull Ring shopping centre, which was completed in 2003.WSP Group: Birmingham Bullring UK page.html UK's busiest shopping centre - icBirmingham, 3 September 2004 (Accessed 17 March 2007) It is amongst the busiest shopping centres in the United Kingdom with 36.5 million visitors in 2004. It houses one of only four Selfridges department stores and contained the largest Debenhams outside London. The area is said to bring in around £1 billion per year, and has a footfall of around 36.9 million a year.
The Rotunda
The Rotunda was refurbished by Urban Splash into residential apartments from an office building.Skyline for Sale - BBC Birmingham The building was stripped to the core and floorplatesBirmingham's Rotunda Development Naked at 40 - Locate Birmingham, 9 August 2006 before new full-height windows and cladding were added, plus two LED boards to the top of the building.Rotunda keeps an eye on the city - Birmingham Post, 24 May 2007
New Street Station
Designs were shown to the public in mid-February 2006 for a new Birmingham New Street station in a project known as Gateway Plus.Re-New Street: Change at New Street The plans featured a foyer of open space with a multi-storey entrance. The roof was composed completely of glass to allow natural light to enter the entrance hall. The façade will have rounded edges and the Pallasades Shopping Centre above the station will remain.
A planning application for outline planning permission was submitted to the council in August 2006 which shows a glass façade with rounded edges. The entrance on Station Street originally included two curved towers on the site of Stephenson Tower. Due to the economic slowdown, the office space is not needed, and the "twin towers" plan has been shelved until the market picks up.http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/08/24/twin-towers-plan-for-new-street-station-shelved-due-to-economic-downturn-97319-24517039/ Twin towers plan for New Street station shelved Work began on the new station in September 2009. The building work will be done in phases in an attempt to minimise disruption to passengers and shoppers. The building work was completed in September 2015.http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/08/11/new-street-revamp-work-close-to-starting-97319-24370064/ Revamp work close to starting
Snowhill
The Snowhill scheme adjacent to Snow Hill station is a large mixed-use development. Developed by Ballymore, it will feature two office blocks, a hotel tower and a 137-metre residential tower.
One Snowhill was the first building in the development. The accountancy firm KPMG has of office space in the building on a 20-year lease on floors 7 to 11. Following this, Barclays agreed to move its Midlands headquarters to One Snowhill. They are to take up of space on floors three to six on a 15-year lease with its own dedicated reception and meeting suite. 1,000 sales and operations staff will move into the office building. The pre-let to Barclays is believed to be the reason why they were comfortable to refinance the loan for the construction of the building. Snowhill One was completed in 2009.
Construction of Two Snowhill was suspended in 2009, with the basement level and slip form cores having been completed. The project restarted in 2011 with the shell and core works being completed in early 2013. Office floors 1 to 6 have been completed to 'Cat A' standard and are now available for lease. Floors 7 to 14 are currently being fitted out for legal firm, Wragge & Co who have signed up for of space, a new record for the Birmingham office market.
Birmingham was supposed to get its first five-star hotel after Ballymore confirmed that in 2008, Starwood entered into an agreement to open a new 198 bedroom Westin Hotel & Spa. However, building has stopped due to the financial backer pulling out.
As part of the development, St Chads Circus was levelled with the underpasses filled in.St Chad's Intersection / Snow Hill Queensway roadworks A new square created adjacent to Saint Chad's Cathedral, with the aim of attracting more pedestrians to the area.
West Midland Metro
The coalition government has given funding approval for the extension of the West Midlands Metro from Birmingham Snow Hill station, passing through the shopping district to Birmingham New Street station. The £127 million state-of-the-art, electrically powered light rail system will also provide quick and easy access to Birmingham's business district and the Jewellery Quarter. Track laying was due to start in 2013 with a completion date of 2015 however following a number of delays the extension was finally opened on 30 May 2016. The extension is forecast to boost the regional economy by £50 million a year and create up to 1,300 sustainable new jobs. Centro Website This extension has now been carried out and there are other extensions planned for the future by TfWM.
Westside and Ladywood
The Library of Birmingham The Library of Birmingham is a new library at Centenary Square beside the Birmingham Rep and Baskerville House, replacing Birmingham Central Library in 2013. It is part of a pedestrian axis extending from Centenary Square to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. It is estimated the new library cost £193 million and is seen by Birmingham City Council as a flagship project for the Redevelopment of Birmingham and is set to become the largest public library in Britain.
The Cube The Cube is a 23 storey cuboid tower completed in 2010, in Birmingham, England. Designed by Ken Shuttleworth of Make Architects, the mixed use development contains 135 flats, 111,500 ft² (10,360 m²) of offices, shops, a hotel and a 'skyline' restaurant. It is the final phase of The Mailbox development. It has already been dubbed 'Tetris Tower' by some Brummies due to the exterior resembling the shapes on the game Tetris. Cube Building WebsiteHighways England have relocated their offices to The Cube from Five Ways.Highways Agency Press Statement
Arena Central The Arena Central project includes offices, apartments, leisure facilities, bars and restaurants on Broad Street on the site of the former ATV / Central Television Studios which had closed in 1997. Construction has been delayed due to the property market slump.
The V Building is a proposed 51 storey landmark residential skyscraper. It will be located next to Alpha Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Birmingham, on what is currently a multi-level underground car park. The total cost of the entire scheme is expected to be £400 million, and the tower, £150 million. Official Arena Central website Planning permission was granted in 2005, however developers Miller Developments and Bridgehouse Capital have been granted a five-year extension on planning permission for the V Building meaning it must be built by 2015.