DRAFT: WORK IN PROGRESS

BIRMINGHAM IS A GLOBAL CITY WITH A LOCAL HEART. WE MUST LOOK TO THE WORLD STAGE TO PRESENT OURSELVES IN THE BEST LIGHT, BUT MUST ALWAYS RECOGNISE THAT WE ARE A CITY WITH A MILLION LOCAL VOICES.
Councillor Mike Whitby, Birmingham City Council

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 HOW DO I GET INVOLVED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE OBJECTIVES OF THE BIG CITY PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 TOWARDS A STRATEGY FOR THE CITY CENTRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 CITY CENTRE ACTIVITIES THE ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CITY CENTRE CONNECTIVITY THE ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 THE SPATIAL STRUCTURE OF THE CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 ISSUES & OPTIONS FOR THE POLICY AREAS 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 7 8 THE INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 THE CORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 SOUTHSIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 HIGHGATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 WESTSIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 LADYWOOD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 JEWELLERY QUARTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 GUN QUARTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 EASTSIDE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 DIGBETH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

DELIVERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 NEXT STEPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

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Figure 0.1: The Big City Plan boundary and the existing city core

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INTRODUCTION
1.1.1 Birmingham is a city of a million people at the centre of a conurbation of two and a half million. Figure 0.1 shows the city in its city region. Birmingham is Britains second city and is big on the European scale. It has a young, diverse and growing population. In the face of massive economic change, the city has achieved great regeneration success and has attracted large amounts of inward investment, with more to come. It has new high technology manufacturing, a rapidly growing business and professional services sector, a strong university and research sector, and world-class business conference and exhibition facilities. It wants to attract more high value international investment, and register much more strongly on the international scale. It wants to be an exciting and attractive place where individuals and families choose to live and stay. It wants to be a place renowed for great public spaces and as a Water City. This Issues and Options Report is a stage in the development of The Big City Plan, a plan for Birminghams city centre. The city centre is the area within the Ring Road (Middleway), and covers some 800 hectares. The Big City Plan will develop the new vision for the city centre and set a new direction for the city centre over the next 20 years. The citys aspiration is to be in the top 20 most liveable cities in the world within 20 years. The Big City Plan will be an important instrument in realising that ambition. The city centre is not only the core area of shops, offices and hotels, but all the myriad activities that take place within Birminghams quarters its homes, start up businesses, universities and educational establishments, cultural scenes, specialist services, creative industries in fact, everything within the area bounded by the Ring Road. The plan will build upon Birminghams success and will ensure that the city raises its performance and its profile nationally and internationally. It will provide a coherent approach to regeneration and development and will help to make the city centre a much more attractive and liveable place.
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1.1.4

The Big City Plan will be an Area Action Plan: one of a new generation of forward-looking development plan documents. We are also producing a new Birmingham Plan, which will be the core strategy for the whole city. The Birmingham Plan and the Big City Plan will be part of the Local Development Framework (LDF). The LDF will be made up of a portfolio of documents including other Area Action Plans and Supplementary Planning Documents, and will be an important means through which to deliver our vision for Birminghams city centre. The Big City Plan has to be consistent with national policy guidance, the Regional Spatial Strategy and with the Birmingham Plan. The Regional Spatial Strategy sets out some important requirements for Birmingham: 50,600 new homes by 2026 over the city; a 130 hectare city-wide reservoir of employment land with a longer term requirement of 390 hectares; and 225,000 square metres of comparison retail development by 2021 (355,000 sq m by 2026) and 590,000 square metres of office development in the city centre. There are many other plans which have been produced for all or parts of the city centre in recent years, including Birmingham Vision 2026. We have considered them all in putting together the ideas in this Issues and Options Report. If you would like to read more about the planning policy context for the Big City Plan, you will find more detailed information in Appendix 1. Work on the Big City Plan is being carried out in several stages. We have been undertaking research for some months to gather information to ensure that the proposals and policies which emerge later in the process are grounded in robust, up to date information. We are now at the issues and options consultation stage where everyone interested in the future of the city centre has the opportunity to get involved. In the next stage we will produce a preferred options report which will be subject to formal consultation for 6 weeks. After that we will produce a draft plan which will be submitted to the Secretary of State for examination. We hope to formally adopt the Big City Plan in 2009.

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HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

1.1.8 The purpose of this report is to seek your views on the issues that will affect development in the city centre over the next twenty years. The report sets out the main issues that we need to consider in producing the Big City Plan, as well as a number of broad options, or scenarios, for the future development of the city centre. These issues and scenarios, however, are by no means exhaustive and your views are welcome on any other issues which you feel are relevant to the production of the Big City Plan. Please let us know your opinions on the issues and options so that we can take them into account as work on preparing the Area Action Plan progresses. You can return your comments by post in the reply-paid envelope to:

You can ask for a copy of this leaflet in large print, another format or another language. We aim to supply what you need within ten working days. Call 0121 303 3075 or email us at inquiries@bigcityplan.org.uk If you have hearing difficulties please contact us via RNID Typetalk 18001 0121 303 3075 or Relay Assist 08702 409598

1.1.9

1.1.10 BIG CITY PLAN TEAM 16th Floor, Alpha Tower Suffolk Street Queensway Birmingham B1 1TU 1.1.11 Or by email to: inquiries@birmingham.gov.uk 1.1.12 For more details about how to get involved in this consultation please visit our website: www.bigcityplan.org.uk. 1.1.13 Details of other LDF documents that we are preparing at the moment can be viewed at www.birmingham.gov.uk

Disclaimer: Please note that this document is not to be used for public consultation. It is a draft version of the Work in Progress report and has been produced for preview purposes only.
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1 THE OBJECTIVES OF THE BIG CITY PLAN

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1.2.1

BIRMINGHAMS AMBITIONS
Birminghams ambition is to be a global city with a local heart. Birmingham aims to develop a global role in addition to its position as a regional capital. Growth is a key element of this plan. The city will grow considerably during the next 20 years to at least 1.1 million. Economic, social, cultural and educational facilities will need to grow even more to establish the citys global role. Birmingham also aspires to be among the top 20 most liveable cities in the world within 20 years. This means developing a global economic and cultural role for Birmingham whilst nurturing the potential of everyone in the city and promoting a productive, innovative and welcoming environment for residents, visitors and investment. BIRMINGHAM CITY OF THE FUTURE

1.2.4

Innovation and skills There needs to be better working between the universities, the local government and the private sector. Economic and cultural diversity Birminghams city centre should become more diverse for residents or visitor in its architecture, public realm, cultural facilities, heritage, retail offer, services, especially for young and minority ethnic groups. Connectivity Birmingham must address critical issues, including accessibility, internal mobility, digital connectivity and connections and its relationships with London and other major centres of population and business. Strategic capacity Birmingham needs strong leadership, vision and a long term integrated and partnership approach to development. Quality of place Birmingham city centre should become more diverse, more authentic and gritty, more multicultural, more friendly to young people. The contents of these recommendations have been at the heart of the subsequent work on the Big City Plan. The concepts contained in Professor Parkinsons report were further developed in a Big Ideas Event held in November 2007 and in the development of a charter for the Big City Plan.

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1.2.6

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1.2.8

1.2.2

The City Council and its partners have made a number of steps towards turning this ambition into reality. The Birmingham City of the Future Conference was held in 2005. During this conference Professor Michael Parkinson of Liverpool John Moores University described Birmingham as having a brilliant first act, but suggested that it now needed to open its second act. Professor Parkinson was subsequently commissioned to Vision the Masterplan to set the framework for the Big City Plan. His report recommended that careful thought be given to the best way to fund and deliver change in the city centre. He recommended that the Big City Plan should address five drivers of competitiveness, as follows:

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1.2.3

THE BIG CITY PLAN CHARTER 1.2.10 The Council held a first stakeholder event (the Big Ideas Event) in November 2007. Ideas for the future of the city centre were discussed and shaped by a stakeholder group consisting of a team of international experts together with the newly-formed Big City Team, a group of young people from Birmingham interested in shaping its future. Following this event, the Council published its Big Ideas Charter. The Charter is a statement of intent for the city centre, which will help to define strategic objectives for the Big City Plan. 1.2.11 The ten global themes within the Charter suggest how Birmingham can pursue its ambitions to operate and compete successfully within the global competitive market. 1.2.12 The Charter also sets out ten local ideas which will appeal to the everyday concerns and the future aspirations of the million or so people who live, work and use Birminghams city centre. The ideas cover the broadest cross section of interests. The themes and ambitions of the Charter run through this Issues and Options Report. They will be used in helping to evaluate the options set out later in this report.

GLOBAL THEMES CENTRICITY Birmingham city centre should grow in population, economic strength and cultural diversity. The core and wider central area should house more major businesses and world class retail and cultural and recreational facilities. These central area activities will expand out of the core into neighbouring parts of the city centre. AUDACITY Birmingham should be an imaginative and ambitious city and a natural choice for major events. The city should aim to host at least one additional major international event within the plan period, such as an international Expo, successful Year of Culture/ Architecture bid, or world sporting championship to galvanise action in the city. LIVEABLE CITY Birmingham should seek to raise the quality of life for individuals living within the city centre, in order to attract visitors, inward investors, new businesses and new citizens. DIVERSE CITY Birmingham should actively seek to reflect the diversity of its population, through its enterprises, businesses and housing, and through the built environment, food, music, theatres and art. AUTHENTICITY Birmingham needs to find expressions of the future that reflect its roots and history and concentrate on achieving excellent design quality and a sense of unique place right across the city centre. UNIVERCITY Birmingham must value its strong academic base and turn it into city-based enterprise if it is going to compete better on the world stage. Technological enterprise should be encouraged by new forms of workspace, flexible learning and living space and business support. FAMILY CITY Birmingham should seek to increase radically the number of families living in the city centre, to balance out the recent growth in small apartments and to support a wider range of city centre activities. COMPLEX CITY Birminghams agencies should work together to deliver the essentials for city centre family living new parks, schools, health centres, meeting places, local workplaces all delivered in tandem with new homes. SMART CITY Birmingham must lead the field on achieving smart growth. This means finding new ways to reduce transport carbon; to manage energy in buildings; to make good use of water; and to minimise waste. CONNECTED CITY Birmingham should actively promote the development of the high-speed rail network to the city centre.

LOCAL IDEAS LIVE LOCAL Birmingham should accommodate a great new family neighbourhood within the city centre. Birmingham should also provide for a range of housing types and tenures. MOVE LOCAL Options for the running of the Metro, bus routes and walking routes need to be considered, so that the city centre is both accessible by public transport and space is freed up for pedestrians. STREET LOCAL Birmingham needs a strategy that deals with all types of routes from the biggest to the smallest. This will make the most of the good access that the outer ring road and other strategic routes provides, whilst ensuring that at a local scale high quality connections are provided to link new and existing spaces. START LOCAL Birmingham should master the art of fostering new enterprise. The potential for working close to home should also be explored and the widest range of employment space should be provided. CREATE LOCAL Birmingham should become the focus for creative industries to rival those in other cities. PLAY LOCAL Birmingham needs a comprehensive network of green spaces and canals. A range of smaller local pocket parks or gardens squares and great parks should be provided. LEARN LOCAL If Birmingham is to accommodate a new urban neighbourhood then the best schools must be located close by. These should be multi-purpose buildings, which offer a range of activities for all sectors of the community; adult education at nights, sports facilities on the weekend, community meeting spaces, and library facilities. BUY LOCAL Birmingham should have a new Food Quarter. Birmingham could also embrace the Slow Food Movement and should actively market its cultural diversity in its eating places and events. RENEW LOCAL Birmingham could create its own multi-utility services company (MUSCO) to supply its new smart neighbourhoods on highly efficient basis with water, electricity, heating and broadband. BUILD LOCAL Birmingham could create a new way of building smart neighbourhoods. A The Birmingham House: something that reflects the needs of modern living but builds on the authenticity of the place.

BIRMINGHAM IS BIG ENOUGH TO CHALLENGE THE WAY THINGS ARE

2 TOWARDS A STRATEGY FOR THE CITY CENTRE

2.1
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INTRODUCTION
The Big City Plan will be founded on a strategy which is emerging from work already undertaken in connection with the Regional Spatial Strategy, the Birmingham Plan, Visioning the Masterplan, the Big Ideas Event, Birmingham Vision 2026 and the Birmingham Prospectus. The strategy of the Big City Plan will aim to provide the conditions for Birmingham City Centre to: t
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Grow to serve the citys status as the UKs second world city; Raise the city much higher on global indices of liveability (such as the Mercer Index1); moving into the top 20 cities from its current 56th place; Transform itself economically and environmentally; Become a smart city, with strong economic growth driven by the development and implementation of green and digital technologies. 2.1.4 2.1.3

IMPROVING LIVEABILITY The most important factor in raising the citys status is the citys liveability. This includes a good physical environment to attract people and improve the citys image, with well designed buildings, streets and spaces; a range of attractive homes and social facilities including schools, local centres and open space, attractive and safe walking routes, efficient and easy to use public transport. The most liveable cities are economically successful and desirable. People want to live there; they attract highly qualified people and hence investment. They promote social inclusion. Figure 2.1 shows Birminghams position on the Mercer liveability index. Liveability is the essential ingredient in the recipe to raise Birminghams role as a world city. The plan will focus on the objectives of world city and liveability: the global city with a local heart. Working broadly with the grain of the existing city centre structure the urban structure of core and quarters the plan will create the foundation for Birminghams growth and its progress as a liveable city. A GROWING CITY Growth will be a key theme of the Big City Plan. Birmingham will be a major focus for growth in England and within the West Midlands region. The potential growth in population over this period could be up to 10% or more, raising the population to at least 1.1 million. Birmingham also has a young population which is itself an important driver of growth, and the number of households and hence the need for housing will also continue to grow. It is clear that whichever option is followed within the Core Strategy, the city centre must play its part in accommodating the big rise in population and households that is forecast for the city. This has important implications in two areas. Firstly, the need to create balanced communities with a full range of facilities that will encourage families to live in the centre; and secondly, the need to adopt planning policies that allow for the right kind of residential growth within the centre. A growing population will need more jobs, schools, more shops, places to go, places to enjoy. This report suggests ways in which these changes may be realised and delivered.

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Mercers Quality of Life Survey is released annually, comparing 215 cities based on 39 criteria. New York is given a score of 100 and other cities are rated in comparison. Important criteria are safety, education, hygiene, recreation, political-economic stability and public transportation (www. mercer.com)

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Rank 2008
1 2 2 4 5 6 7 7 9 10 20 21 22 23 24 25 25 27 38 56 56

City
Zurich Vienna Geneva Vancouver Auckland Dusseldorf Munich Frankfurt Bern Sydney Stockholm Perth Montreal Nurnburg Oslo Dublin Calgary Hamburg London Birmingham Glasgow

Country
Switzerland Austria Switzerland Canada New Zealand Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Australia Sweden Australia Canada Germany Norway Ireland Canada Germany England England Scotland

Index 2008
108 107.9 107.9 107.6 107.3 107.2 107 107 106.5 106.3 104.5 104.3 104.2 104.1 103.7 103.5 103.5 103.4 101.6 98.6 9.86

MANAGING ECONOMIC AND PHYSICAL CHANGE AND PROMOTING REGENERATION 2.1.6 The city centre has considerable strengths in its accessibility, the diversity of its people, its great topography, its civic and industrial heritage, its iconic buildings, its strong retail and commercial sectors, its academic and research institutions, its modern manufacturing base, its strong IT infrastructure, and its distinct quarters. There are major opportunities to raise the citys profile in commerce and arts and through digital communications technologies, and to further improve its accessibility by rail, air and Metro. At the same time, the city centre is experiencing dynamic change, with the expansion of central area uses and the decline of its traditional employment base. These changes are clearly reflected in the physical environment, in which a thriving core is in close proximity to several areas of stagnating or declining activity, substantial vacancy levels and poor physical environment. In recognition of this, the plan will propose delivery-vehicle based transformation, policy-based evolution or conservation in different parts of the city centre. This report suggests a number of options for the core and each of the quarters. The four recommended major areas of transformation are: t
the opening up of the Southside area south and west of New Street Station and linking with the redevelopment of the Wholesale Markets to create a new vibrant area containing a mixture of central area activities, with a major focus at a new lake based on the site of the original moat; the completion of the Eastside regeneration, involving the reconfiguration of routes and spaces to create a coherent area of city centre and university, research and media related uses; the renewal of Highgate and its regeneration as an exemplar quarter for family living within walking distance of the core; the renewal of Ladywood as high quality residential neighbourhood with a mixture of homes, connected with Icknield Port Loop.

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Figure 2.1 The Mercer Quality of Life Index 2008 t

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This report also suggests policy-based options for the quarters that have experienced stagnating or declining economic activity including the Gun Quarter, Digbeth and the Jewellery Quarter, which include ideas for the expansion of business, creative industries and housing within these areas.

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EXPANDING THE CENTRAL AREA 2.1.9 To raise the citys status, a number of factors need to come together. The plan will need to provide opportunities for central area uses such as prime offices and shops to expand and for the city to continue to stage high level international events in modern, quality facilities. It will need to create the right conditions for the further development of the cultural assets of the city including developing the concept of the city itself as a gallery; the raising of the citys academic and research profile; and for starting and growing central area businesses and niche, specialist activities. Less easily planned for, it must aim to create or foster the conditions that add human interest, excitement and diversity to the city. The central area will therefore expand further out of the core, and there will be a transition zone outside this area which will contain a mixture of city centre and more local activities, shown on Figure 5.2. The questions in the later sections of this report ask what can be done in the city centre to enable Birmingham to realise the following ambitions as a global city: t
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A world player in business and high value commercial operations A big international presence in arts and culture A leader in the development and application of digital technology A major seed bed for spinoff research, development and new enterprise from the universities A profitable and growth-oriented environment for clusters of emerging high technology and green industries A famed range of entertainment and leisure facilities Shopping and town centre services and environment commensurate with global city status Supportive conditions for the strong development of creative and fringe uses and activities Outstanding open spaces and public places An attractive city centre living environment for a diverse range of residents, especially families Outstanding accessibility, both physical and virtual, through high quality sustainable transport and user-friendly transport interchanges and high speed next generation telecommunication
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PRIORITISING TRANSPORT 2.1.10 The plan will propose transport priorities which will include the creation of an attractive and safe network of city streets and investment in public transport networks and services. These might include extensions to the existing and currently proposed Metro services, new bus-based rapid transport (BRT) services, enhancements to the conventional bus services and a dynamic traffic, parking and street management system. This report contains options for these transport priorities. It also seeks ideas for the expansion of digital and communications technologies. MAKING BIRMINGHAM CITY CENTRE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY 2.1.11 The Big City Plan will consider how Birmingham can best reduce greenhouse gases and the consumption of finite resources and enhance biodiversity. Measures will include building performance, more efficient means of energy, water supply and drainage, air quality improvements and opportunities for habitat creation. 2.1.12 The first and most effective method will be to ensure that buildings, spaces, land uses and movement networks are arranged in a complementary manner, and that opportunities for digital media communication are further exploited, since these are the best ways of reducing the need to travel by less sustainable modes. 2.1.13 Moreover, Birmingham with its manufacturing tradition is in a good position to base research and economic growth on the development of green technologies. The issue is how far the Big City Plan can encourage and plan for the growth of this part of its economy. 2.1.14 The Issues and Options report will ask how Birmingham can be a leading-edge environmentally smart city and play a full role in delivering Birminghams Climate Change Strategy. The concept of the smart city will be a strong theme running through the whole of the Big City Plan. 2.1.15 The BCP will also explore opportunities to create a necklace of urban waterside and green spaces that are enjoyable, exciting and the very highest quality. We will look at creating new and expanded green spaces and improving the links between them; raising the profile, safety and diversity of the canal network; revealing the course of the River Rea; and creating green and blue features across the city centre, including green roofs and walls and flowing water. We want Birmingham to have a beautiful city centre.

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BIRMINGHAM IS A BIG CITY WITH BIG AMBITIONS...IT HAS HAD A BRILLIANT FIRST ACT, BUT IT NEEDS A STEP CHANGE IN THINKING AND ACTION IF IT IS TO MOVE FORWARD WITH OTHER BIG CITIES

3 CITY CENTRE ACTIVITIES THE ISSUES

3.1
3.1.1

INTRODUCTION
Birmingham is a city with a huge number of assets; its economy is steadily growing; flagship projects have helped to raise the profile of the city; it has a vibrant, young and cosmopolitan population; there are strong centres of research and education, and good transport connections. But there are a great many issues and opportunities that need to be considered and addressed as part of the Big City Plan. These are considered under a number of headings within the following section. Further information on these subjects is contained in the Baseline Report, which can be found on the website www.bigcityplan.org.uk.

3.2.2

On the other hand, Birmingham remains underrepresented in the higher value added sectors that generate greater wealth and pay higher wages. Its employment in the Financial and Business sector is still lower than the UK Core Cities average. It has fewer jobs in R&D and knowledge-intensive business services. The working age population in the city has lower skills than the national average and this is seen as inhibiting its growth potential. Universities and education generally are seen as one of the key tools for raising the citys performance. Economic change and the skills base have an impact on the level of worklessness, because the new jobs created do not necessarily match the skill sets of those who were formerly in manufacturing. For Birmingham as a whole unemployment rates are above the national average and economic activity rates are below the national average. The economic activity rate for Birmingham at 66% is around 8% below the national average, although some of this is accounted for by students. As a result there are a large number of individuals either claiming Job Seekers Allowance or who are economically inactive people of working age who are not working, are not in full-time education or training and are not actively seeking work. To address this on a city wide scale the city is investing in ICT and research and development, under-represented businesses such as those run by ethnic minorities and women, and social enterprise. A series of high tech developments are planned along the A38 running through central Birmingham to Longbridge and beyond known as the Central Technology Belt. Overall the population of Birmingham is projected to increase by 100,000 and the working age population by 65,000. Thus jobs need to be created just to keep pace with this growth. But the city needs to go beyond that to raise its employment rate. Whilst preparing a higher skilled future for all its residents, the plan must seek to integrate the existing workless through providing a range of employment and occupational opportunities.

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3.2

BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION

3.2.1

Birminghams city centre has undergone considerable change over recent years, shifting from a heavy reliance on manufacturing towards the higher value added service sector. This transition has had a number of successes; health and education, finance and business services and creative industries are demonstrating growth; the city centre is increasingly seen as an attractive office location; and Birmingham is the largest retail centre in England outside London. Currently, public administration, health and education, finance and business services, retail, hotels and restaurants, and manufacturing supply 86% of all city centre jobs. Creative industries with 5.2% of Birminghams jobs also have a modest but potentially growing role. The number of jobs in the construction and retail sectors is also growing, whereas the recent growth in public sector jobs is slowing down. In Birmingham 60% of new jobs are expected to be in finance and business services, and growth is predicted in software, radio and television and live music.

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3.2.5

An analysis of present development proposals clearly shows that the majority of city centre growth falls within in the core. 70% of currently proposed office development is located in the core. The only other significant areas of proposed development are Eastside (19%) and Westside (8%). The sum total of schemes currently in the development pipeline would generate 670,000 sq m of office and 35,000 sq m of retail. There is clearly a need to ensure that the other city centre quarters benefit from higher levels of economic activity and growth. OFFICES

3.2.9

Trying to create too much space before the market is ready will be counter-productive. Equally a choice may need to be made over the phasing of development areas so that they do not compete with each other and send out confused messages to the development market. For example whilst the core is the obvious first area for development a choice may need to be taken over when to bring forward development in Eastside, Westside and Southside. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

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The options in the emerging Birmingham Core Strategy focus office growth within the city centre. The city centre has a well defined belt of major office buildings, which stretches from the Fiveways area through Brindleyplace and Broad Street, to Snow Hill and Colmore Row, The last phase of Brindleyplace is under construction and there are several major schemes recently completed or under construction at Colmore Plaza and Snow Hill. Eastside and the southern end of the Jewellery Quarter are emerging parts of this office belt, with the latter forming a focus for professional offices. Birmingham prime office rents are high even on an international scale and suggest a historic constriction on supply. There may be a need to look at ways in which a range of new office accommodation can be brought on stream perhaps as part of mixed use schemes like Brindleyplace and Eastside to appeal to a variety of potential occupiers. The Plan needs to respond to the RSS requirements of 590,000 square metres of new office development by 2026 in the city centre. If Birmingham is looking to create a step-change in its economic performance it may take time to create the right conditions infrastructure and image to deliver this. Thus commercial office floorspace may not be delivered at an even rate throughout the plan period. Rather than an average of 30,000 sq m p.a., higher rates of development might be expected in the latter part of the period.

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3.2.10 The core of the city centre, and related areas such as Brindleyplace, are self-evidently successful, but this success is far from universal across the whole city centre. Future employment trends show a continued move away from manufacturing towards high skilled jobs including business and professional services, and in certain quarters the employment trend away from manufacturing is very rapid indeed. Overall the amount of occupied industrial space in Birmingham city as a whole and in Birmingham city centre in particular is expected to decline. Whilst there may be different views about the rate of decline the overall trend is clear. Forecasts of employment prepared by Cambridge Econometrics would suggest that for the city centre the overall loss is forecast to be around 80,000 sq m, with this loss being spread across the city centre quarters. 3.2.11 Whilst not seeking to drive out existing productive firms the city must plan to make best use of land and property. As industrial land and premises become vacant the task of the planning system is to recycle it back into productive use quickly. 3.2.12 Options are to leave industrial activity scattered around the city or to try and consolidate it in one or two key locations. Existing industrial premises may be in the city centre for historic reasons. But the firms there may not be occupying the optimal locations or premises for modern industrial activity. An active policy of managing this change may see firms requiring good access relocated closer to motorway networks, those requiring low cost premises relocated to other employment areas of the city, whilst those firms that need a city centre location for labour or product market reasons may stay where they are or move to more appropriate central area premises, assisted by environmental, urban design and public realm improvements.

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3.2.13 The Gun Quarter for example lost approximately 25% of its manufacturing jobs in the 3 years from 2003 to 2006 and the trend is continuing. This trend is already very clearly demonstrated on the ground in the city centre. There is a very strong contrast between the ongoing major office construction projects and vibrant shopping streets of the core, and the substantial swathes of under-used and vacant industrial premises within certain sectors of the city centre, particularly the Gun Quarter, Digbeth and even the Jewellery Quarter. Genuine manufacturing has become the exception rather than the rule and parts of the centre lack activity and vibrancy. Despite the retention of employment premises through protective policies, the evidence is that business start-ups in the city centre are low in relative terms given the supply of potential premises. 3.2.14 The economic trends within certain city centre quarters also have a negative effect on the appearance of the city centre and its potential to attract inward investment: parts of the city centre outside the core have a depressed character in which the low level of economic activity fails to support the maintenance of the building stock. There may also be issues of poor street level security through the lack of activity and surveillance. The Big City Plan must anticipate a new role for the city centres manufacturing quarters and adopt the right policies to help improve their prospects.

CREATIVE SECTOR AND MIXED USE 3.2.15 Whilst it is essential to encourage further development in the core, it is important to ensure that growth is generated within the areas around the core. The growth of the creative industry sector can be part of this growth. The creative and cultural industries are a particular sub-set of knowledge based industries. They currently account for around 6% of Birminghams employment and are a growth sector. They also have some wider spin-off in that links with social, cultural and infrastructure networks have been shown to have a positive correlation with productivity. 3.2.16 The creative sector covers a wide range of activities, from jewellery manufacture and the creation of decorative artefacts, through creative professional services such as architecture, to media-related activities. The Jewellery Quarter already has a concentration of such activities and Digbeth (with the Custard Factory particularly notable) and Eastside are emerging as creative areas (see Baseline Report for more detail). A further potential area for growth is spinoff from university-related research and development. At present these links are poorly developed and there is scope to improve on this for the future. Eastside is in a good position to capture growth in this area notably with proposals for creation of the digital and arts academy for 14-19 year olds. 3.2.17 The property requirements of the creative industries vary by segment, but the sector is well suited to making use of old converted buildings that can not be viably redeveloped for mainstream commercial use. As such a policy of limited intervention may best suit the needs of this sector. Creative industries location choices are more strongly related to economic processes than planning designations. The Big City Plan will therefore need to accept that there will be change over time. Indeed, it might be a sign of success if, in thirty years time, the creative industries were priced out of Digbeth and were colonising a new, less affluent area of the city in search of lower rents.

Traditional industrial premises in Southside

17

3.2.18 New Draft PPS 4 on economic development recognises mixed use as a way forward for economic development. Indeed it advises against using single designations to restrict economic development - arguing for more mixed use developments. Mixed use works better on a larger scale than in small sites. It needs to be possible to create a genuine mixed use character where both employment and residential happily co-exist and can even generate mutual benefits, giving a greater sense of security and vitality for both parties. Small office/workshop type uses are those that work best in a mixed use environment. Units with flexibility for a multitude of uses for different business types, including incubation and move-on space, will widen demand for space and enable businesses to grow within the same location. In most cases such development will generate higher levels of employment than low density industrial use, will increase the number of dwellings and improve the environment. 3.2.19 The Jewellery Quarter already exhibits some of the characteristics of a mixed use area and could be developed further along these lines.

QUESTIONS
B1. How can we improve the amount and range of accommodation for offices and high value business activities that will further Birminghams ambitions as a global city? What steps are needed to make Birmingham highly appealing to a variety of occupiers to encourage diversity in business and employment? What delivery mechanisms are required to encourage such variety? Where should this new office and business development be accommodated, to create a more diverse range of locations for different types of business? What kinds of new business start-ups should be encouraged in the city centre? What mechanisms and steps are required to create a supportive environment for these activities? What can be done to capitalise on the closeness of the Universities as a driver for skills raising and business? How can creative and cultural industries be supported, what type of space is needed and where? How might the Custard Factory model be delivered in other parts of the centre? How can support best be given to the potential growth clusters in environmental technologies, medical/biosciences, advanced engineering and digital media? To what extent and how should the plan support the continuation of manufacturing and other B2 uses in the city centre?

B2.

B3.

B4.

B5.

B6.

B6.

B7.

18

3.3
3.3.1

RETAILING
Birmingham is ranked the largest retail centre in the country outside of central London and has about 300,000 sq m retail floorspace. Retail provision within the city centre is focused around High Street, New Street, the Bull Ring and Corporation Street. In addition, the city centre has a high proportion of managed retail floorspace including the Bull Ring, the Pallasades, Priory Square, the Mailbox, Martineau Place and Pavillion Central. There are a number of planning permissions for further retail development in the city centre such as Phase 2 of Martineau Galleries (85,000 sq m approx), The Cube (7,800 sq m approx) and the Jewellery Box (5,500 sq m approx). In addition, the Birmingham New Street Station redevelopment involves the refurbishment of approximately 34,830 sq m of retail floorspace. Despite the recent success and pipeline development, Birmingham will need to continue to invest in the quantity and quality of its retail offer to maintain its leading position and respond to threats posed by its competitors such as the Merry Hill Shopping Centre in Dudley. The Regional Spatial Strategy requires Birmingham city centre to plan for an additional gross non food retail floorspace of 225,000 sq m between 2006-2021 and an additional 130,000 sq m between 2021-2026. This is a substantial requirement to accommodate, reflecting Birminghams ambitions as a global city.

3.3.3

There are major issues about where such growth should be accommodated. One approach would be to consolidate around the opposite end of the High Street from the Bull Ring to create another magnet of attraction. Another would be to recognise the shift in gravity that has occurred as a result of the Bull Ring development and look at expanding the shopping area southwards. Birmingham has an excellent shopping offer in terms of mainstream fashion outlets and multiple retailers but independent and niche retailers are not strongly represented compared with some other cities. This results in a degree of blandness in the city centres shopping streets. A city of Birminghams size should have one or more areas of interesting specialist and niche shops. In some cities there are several of these areas each specialising in different things, such as fashion, furnishings or food. These shopping areas can cater for very upmarket shopping requirements or can provide affordable and interesting alternatives to the usual multiple shops. The Big City Plan provides an opportunity to think about how Birmingham can harbour and encourage these specialist areas and where they might go. The same applies to Birminghams markets. Developing a street market or markets within the fringe or transitional areas around the city core will greatly help to enliven the city streets. As with specialist retailing, different markets can specialise in different ranges of produce, from ethnic foods to antiques. There is huge scope for more edgy, fringe, ethnic, music or student related markets or specialist retailers reflecting Birminghams youthfulness and diversity.

3.3.4

3.3.2

3.3.5

Birminghams arcades offer an alternative shopping experience, but...

...should Birmingham create an vibrant area of independent and niche high street chains?
19

QUESTIONS
R1. What kind of additional shops and services are needed in Birmingham in the future to set it apart from its competitors and develop its global reputation? Where can shopping activity expand within the city centre and niche shopping areas for particular types of product be developed? How can the city develop a larger specialist retail sector? Is there a role for street-based markets and can market streets be developed as a tourist destination? What improvements should be carried out to the City Centres shopping streets to create a more attractive environment and enhance the citys global reputation?

3.4
3.4.1

COMMUNITY, POPULATION AND HOUSEHOLDS

The residential population of Birmingham city centre is actually quite small. In 2001 it was about 23,000; since that date there have been several residential developments which have raised it to around 30,000. Although the centres population is the size of a small town, it is tiny compared with that of the city as a whole. Population density over the 800 hectares of the centre is relatively low and there is still great potential for residential growth in the centre. The emerging Core Strategy proposes three options for the growth of Birmingham as a whole. All three of these options involve a significant increase in population. All will require substantial growth in the city centre. Accommodating significant numbers of new dwellings throughout the city centre will require a new and fresh look at planning proposals and policies. The requirement for more housing can bring substantial benefits to the city centre. Birminghams younger than average population and its ethnic mix are assets for the city. But outside the core shopping and office areas and outside working hours, much of the city centre lacks vibrancy owing partly to an absence of city centre residents to support local activities combined with an pattern of land use which does not attract people in the evenings. In the evenings, much of the centre, including most of the main shopping areas, are all but deserted. If the Big City Plan is to improve the interest and vibrancy of the wider centre it must bring about an increase in the city centres population and a more diverse pattern of land use. The city centre comprises several areas of distinct character which were formerly largely industrial, such as the Gun Quarter, Jewellery Quarter and Digbeth. One of the clear trends from the economic analysis (see above) is the reducing level of manufacturing and the resultant stock of vacant and underused buildings within these quarters. Some of the more attractive building stock has been converted to residential use and there has also been some residential development. However, there is still a lot of vacant and under-used floorspace and some vacant sites and these could present a major opportunity for residential growth on brownfield land within a stones throw of the city core.

R2.

R3. R4.

3.4.2

R5.

3.4.3

3.4.4

20

3.4.5

One of the main challenges in seeking to increase the city centres population is the need to create a satisfactory mix of housing in the city centre, including a range of good family housing with associated social infrastructure. The centre currently does not have a balanced, good quality stock of housing and related residential facilities: t
The residential areas of Ladywood, Highgate and part of the Gun Quarter are dominated by 20th Century social housing stock and layouts at relatively low densities and have an inward-looking, self-contained feel that does not relate to the citys core. As a general rule, their public realm and public spaces are not attractive, their housing stock is not ageing well, their layouts do not follow good urban design principles and they do not house a broad social mix. These areas are likely to require renewal or improvement. The new Park Central residential quarter with its urban scale, attractive park (Sunset Park) and its range of accommodation is a much more successful residential environment although its design displays a functionality of appearance that does not speak of diversity or individuality. More flexible approaches to design, scale, public/private space and tenure may need to be developed in the city centre to create mixed city centre communities that are capable of attracting a broad range of people. The city centre has a growing number of apartment developments of studios, one and two bedroom homes. These are an important part of the housing stock and help to contribute to the vibrancy of the centre. However, the centre cannot rely on apartment developments for delivering all its housing requirements because they do not provide a broad enough range of accommodation.

3.4.6

A young and diverse population is one of Birminghams defining characteristics and one that can be used to enhance the centres distinctiveness. A city centre for young people should be family-friendly; its open spaces should be safe during the day and into the evening; its cultural offering should include activities for children from toddlers to teenagers. At present there is not enough to attract families. The main city centre residential areas do not offer a good enough range of dwellings, schools, shops or local facilities, whilst the presence of unattractive and vacant industrial premises, a poor public realm and perceptions of insecurity are additional factors. The creation of an outstanding family city centre environment is an important way for Birmingham to distinguish itself among the core group of cities and to raise itself far above its current position on measurements of liveability. Part of this process will be to look at how Birmingham homes should be designed in the future. We need to ensure that future homes are able to meet peoples changing demands throughout the lifecycle of the family and also embody the principles of sustainable development. The Big City Plan will contain proposals for an exhibition-quality development of environmentally smart homes adaptable to a diverse range of occupiers. Several questions arise as to how Birmingham can raise the quality of residential development within the city centre, how many new dwellings should be allowed for and of what type, where these should be, and how family living can be encouraged.

t

3.4.7

3.4.8

t

Many apartments have been built in recent years. Should this trend continue and what are the alternatives?
21

QUESTIONS
COM1. How much extra housing should be located in the city centre and where should it go? COM2. How far and in what ways can we accommodate more housing within mixed use quarters and traditional industrial quarters like the Jewellery Quarter, Digbeth and the Gun Quarter whilst retaining small businesses and creative industries in those areas? COM3. What needs to be done to encourage a wider range of people to live in the city centre? What are the essentials for creating a familyfriendly environment? What type of homes and residential environment are needed? COM4. What innovative design approaches to homes and the home environment could be developed to enable more people to live in the city centre and stay and grow their families? COM5. What living densities and populations are required to support local shops and facilities in the wider centre? COM6. How might we improve the existing city centre residential areas in Highgate, Ladywood and the Gun Quarter?

3.5
3.5.1

EDUCATION AND LEARNING

Universities are key tools for future success and with three well-regarded universities in the city plus others in the region, Birmingham should be well placed to deliver the graduate skills base the city needs. Yet as the West Midlands Skills Partnership notes, The region is poor at retaining graduates - more than half take a job outside the West Midlands. Many of the graduates we do hold on to are employed in low level jobs that do not fully exploit their potential. There may be a number of reasons why graduates find Birmingham unattractive, but the extent to which highly skilled labour moves between cities depending on the cultural, social or environmental offer of a city is limited. Rather it is the job offer that matters. Employment is the main determinant of migration patterns. Birmingham does not provide the range and quality of jobs necessary to attract these skilled workers. But education and skills need to be developed across the range of occupations and skills levels, not just for the higher level qualifications. This includes schools as well as facilities for workplace training and lifelong learning. A spatial plan for the city centre can help this process by providing a focus for this activity. This may be through some physical form such as a new educational facility or through the change in culture and outlook that the city centre plan is working to bring about. A skills strategy for Birmingham will only work where employers and workers buy into it on a long term and continual basis. A culture of learning is something that is required across the range of skills but impacts disproportionately on those at the bottom end of the skills market who are disengaged from education at an early age and are trapped in inter-generational cycles of low attainment and low aspiration.

3.5.2

3.5.3

22

3.5.4

Birminghams city centre is a strong and developing higher education and research base, particularly in medical, bioscience and biomedical engineering. This is supported by the universities Aston University, the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, University College Birmingham (formerly Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies) and Newman University College. There are also significant colleges which include Matthew Boulton College, and South Birmingham College. These establishments have an important role to play in improving skills levels and nurturing spin-off and start-up industries. Whilst the city centre is therefore benefiting from an increasingly skilled supply of labour with improvements in educational attainment, there are still improvements to be made. Indeed, higher education qualifications within the city centre are still well below government targets. Forecasts by the City Councils Children, Young People and Families Directorate show a steady increase in the number of primary and secondary school places within city centre wards. There is currently no shortage of primary school places in Birmingham city centre and some of the future needs can be provided within existing schools and plans for further extension of some city centre schools. However if Birmingham city centre is to accommodate more family oriented housing in the future, there may be a need in the future for more schools and a more diverse range of schools. Transforming Education is a programme that, in line with the Councils priorities, aims to ensure that every child gets a job, either paid or voluntary, once they finish school. To do this, they must leave school with the appropriate skills and qualifications necessary for further education. The Transforming Education programme includes: Building Schools for the Future (Transforming Secondary Education); Birmingham Academies; Special Provision; Primary Capital Programme; Information and Communications Technology and the 14-19 Curriculum.

3.5.7

There is an opportunity for Birmingham to rebuild or refurbish all of its secondary schools over the next decade as part of Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. Birmingham is the largest urban Building Schools for the Future project in the country. This programme will take place over six phases with the priority based on factors such as pupil attainment and the degree of disadvantage. None of the priority schools to be developed in the first phase (2009-11) is located in the city centre. Birminghams academies are an important part of the Transforming Education programme in the city and by 2012 seven academies are planned throughout Birmingham. Of these St Albans CE (Angelina Street) is located in the city centre, Heartlands High School (Great Francis Street, Nechells) is close to the city centre and the Digital Media and Performing Arts Academy will be located in Eastside by Millennium Point. This Academy will take learners from across the West Midlands and is walkable from New Street Station. Education provision also needs to be improved for younger and pre-school age children within the Big City Plan area, especially if the city centre is to accommodate more family-friendly housing in the future.

3.5.8

3.5.5

3.5.9

QUESTIONS
ED1. What provision should the Big City Plan be making for the expansion needs of education at all levels in the city centre? What can the Big City Plan do to assist in raising skills and qualifications at all ages and thus improving the future growth prospects of the city?

3.5.6

ED2.

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3.6
3.6.1

CULTURE, SPORT AND LEISURE

Birmingham has a thriving cultural, sports and leisure sector which serves local and regional needs. The city centre is home to a number of venues, including Symphony Hall, St. Philips Cathedral, the Hippodrome Theatre, the Birmingham Rep Theatre, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the National Indoor Arena and the Ikon Gallery amongst many others. Plans for relocating the Library of Birmingham from Chamberlain Square adjacent to the Birmingham Rep site in Centenary Square are well advanced. The city centre is also host to a variety of cultural events, most notably the International Jazz Festival, ArtsFest, the St. Patricks Day parade, the St. Georges party, Birmingham Pride, the Birmingham Carnival and a number of other multicultural events. The Councils cultural strategy promotes Culture at Heart, supporting culture in the city centre. The NIA is a premier sporting venue accommodating more than 30 different types of sport within the city centre. Also in close proximity are two major football clubs and Warwickshire County Cricket Ground. In terms of participatory sport however, the only venues are private gyms and a bowling alley. The Big City Plan will consider further investment in culture and sport as a means of promoting the citys national and global reputation and supporting local creative industry and sporting excellence. New development may open up opportunities for locating new cultural and leisure facilities. An example might be the location of a contemporary museum of modern art within one of the new developments, potentially New Street Station. The city needs more flexible indoor and outdoor space for events. The Southside area, and in particular the area of the wholesale markets, could provide the opportunity of creating such space. The Big City Plan will also explore the concept of using the whole city centre as a gallery: getting exhibits and works of art into the streets and squares of the city and into prominent locations on buildings. Commercial leisure facilities and nightlife within the city centre have largely been concentrated along Broad Street and at Fiveways and around the Hippodrome and Arcadian Centre. More recently, the development of Brindleyplace, the Bullring and the Mailbox has helped to create

a more thriving leisure scene with bars and restaurants within the heart of the city centre. Being part of major developments, these areas tend to host leisure and restaurant multiples. There is also a cluster of bars and clubs in the Digbeth area around the Custard Factory, and around Hurst Street. 3.6.7 However, unlike some cities, Birmingham does not have a highly developed leisure scene with distinct and differentiated leisure areas. There is also a need for more leisure and restaurant independents to give Birmingham a more distinct identity. This is perhaps a surprise in a big city with a young age structure and with several universities and colleges.

3.6.2

QUESTIONS
CUL1. What further cultural and arts facilities might be needed in the city centre to promote the national and global image of Birmingham? CUL2. How might the city centre economy and image be enhanced through outdoor leisure/tourism events and how might existing spaces be used or new spaces created to accommodate such events? How can the city go about creating the right conditions for formal, free and spontaneous outdoor events? How can more flexible outdoor and indoor space be provided: should it, for example, go onto a future development of the wholesale markets? CUL3. What steps can be taken to give the city centre a livelier street scene? CUL4. Where and how might the city seek to get new arts exhibition space and venues incorporated into major new developments (for example, like New Street Station)? CUL5. The city would like to use more of its streets and spaces for the exhibition of works of art. What steps can the city, and the Big City Plan, take to bring this about? CUL6. How can the Plan address the need to improve the commercial leisure offer to develop a larger and more diverse leisure economy?

3.6.3

3.6.4

3.6.4

3.6.5

3.6.6

24

3.7
3.7.1

THE BUILT AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Birminghams city centre has a strong and characterful urban and natural environment, rooted in the citys historic legacy. The core of the city has a fine array of civic buildings representing the initiatives of generations of civic leaders, Beyond the core, the centre comprises a series of neighbourhoods and quarters, each with a distinctive character and function. The Jewellery Quarter, for example, is a wonderful example of historic building stock married to small scale design and manufacturing, whilst Digbeth contains some very good, high quality industrial buildings, and Eastside is associated with learning institutions and scientific research. These neighbourhoods and quarters will be explored in more detail throughout the remainder of this report. There are numerous buildings of both historic and architectural interest within the city centre, many of which are located within the five conservation areas and are statutorily or locally listed. Highlights are the Town Hall, Curzon Street Station, the early 18th century Church of St. Philip, the Victorian Law Courts, and the College of Art. Birminghams 20th Century growth has also given the centre a distinctive character which will in due course prove to be an asset, if the best of the period is conserved. The Telecom Tower, Alpha Tower, the Rotunda, the Mailbox, the New Street signal box and the Ringway Centre (the linear building on Smallbrook Queensway) are just some of the iconic buildings from this period. Later buildings such as Selfridges can be added to the list of iconic landmarks. The core of the city centre has a distinctive network of public squares. The older spaces including St. Philips and St. Pauls have been complemented by successful modern public realm projects including Centenary Square, Victoria Square, Brindleyplace, St. Martins Square, and Millennium Point, linking several attractions such as the Ikon Gallery, Symphony Hall, the REP theatres, and the Library of Birmingham. These together with the pedestrian routes down New Street to the Bull Ring create a pleasant walking environment along a central spine through the centre, although the areas around New Street Station and the south side of the city centre are less well endowed with public spaces.

3.7.4

In other parts of the city centre however, the quality of the street environment is less satisfactory. The worst examples fall broadly into two categories. Firstly, there are the areas which were redeveloped as part of the Queensway construction and other highway constructions in the 1960s. Any examination of before and after pictures2 demonstrates graphically how many good street connections and streets lined with fine buildings were lost. The concept of the walking street was replaced with the concept of the individual building accessed by car from an engineered highway. The legacy of this era is that the walking connections between the core and the other -parts of the city centre are poor Ludgate Hill, Newhall Street, Paradise Circus and Digbeth High Street are examples whilst the buildings themselves fail to address the streets and provide little interest at the pedestrian scale. In some cases undeveloped sites still remain, as between Great Charles Queensway and Lionel Street. Secondly, some of the areas with an industrial legacy have a poor quality street environment. Low levels of activity and poor building maintenance give rise to poor street surveillance and feelings of insecurity. Extensive on-street parking detracts from the street scene. Public open space within the city centre is limited. The largest area of open space is Highgate Park, which has been subject of a Parks for People lottery bid following extensive consultation. There is potential, however, for the extension of Highgate Park to serve a growing residential population within the city centre. Other notable parks in the city centre include St. Georges Park and Sunset Park which forms the centrepiece of the new Park Central development. In addition, there are plans for a new park for Eastside, which will occupy an area of 3.2 hectares and will stretch from Park Street, past Millennium Point and through the Digbeth Branch Canal. Otherwise, many of the quarters outside the core have very little open space. The cemeteries in the Jewellery Quarter provide green space and have considerable potential for improvement. The potential of the city centre to accommodate more housing will require the creation of more open space and the improvement of existing open spaces.

3.7.5

3.7.2

3.7.6

3.7.7

3.7.3

There are a number of publications containing before and after pictures: see for example Birmingham Past and Present: In my Fathers Footsteps by Mark Norton

25

3.7.8

The city centres visual image and presence varies depending on the viewpoint. The image is at its most impressive where the centre displays a strong baseline of large buildings above which rise a number of landmarks, such as the BT Tower, the Beetham Tower and the Rotunda. This is particularly the case in distant views from the M6 Motorway; indeed, Birmingham is arguably in the best position of any UK city in having a dramatic presence close to a major national transport route. Other significant images are gained from several locations including the approach along the Aston Expressway and in nearer views such as from Highgate and Digbeth. Night time views of tall illuminated buildings are especially impressive on emerging into Navigation Street from the rear exit of New Street Station. On the other hand, the rail approach into New Street Station gives a poor image of the city although the Eastside proposals will go some way to change this and the taxi arrival experience from the station is unimpressive. The City Council operates a tall buildings policy which seeks to group tall buildings along the ridge. There is scope to develop a cluster of taller buildings in the centre, in Westside, around Snow Hill, in Eastside, around the New Street Station redevelopment. There may also be scope for taller buildings in Southside although this is below the ridge and an alternative here would be mid-rise development. Care needs to be taken in the placing of tall buildings to avoid harm to conservation areas and residential living conditions and to avoid prejudicing the operational needs of aviation. The City Council will continue to develop its approach to tall buildings in consultation with stakeholders including Birmingham International Airport and the Civil Aviation Authority.

3.8
3.8.1

BIRMINGHAM WATER CITY

The City has grown around the banks of the River Rea and the canal network. The theme of Birmingham as a Water City could build from opportunities to transform these existing features and extend the imaginative use of water throughout the streets, squares, parks and buildings of the City Centre with water installations and fountains. Birminghams canal network is an important part of the citys historic legacy. But much of the canal network is currently hidden from view. Parts of the network have been substantially improved over recent years, most notably at the Mailbox, Gas Street Basin and Brindleyplace, but other parts are unattractive and do not feel secure. The canal network has the potential to attract more people and activities and act as a safe alternative movement network, whilst maintaining the industrial character. The River Rea is another part of the hidden environment under Birmingham. It is in a deep cutting and hemmed in by industrial buildings. In conjunction with the Environment Agency there is scope for opening out and improving access to the river and for developing it as a wildlife corridor.

3.8.2

3.8.3

3.7.9

Birmingham Water City

26

Icons are important in defining the citys character

QUESTIONS
ENV1. What steps should be taken to ensure that new development in the city centre, including urban design, buildings and spaces, is of the highest quality, and furthers Birminghams aims as a a global city? ENV2. What approach should be taken to enable Birmingham to protect and enhance its historic environment and maintain the best of its buildings of all periods? ENV3. How can new development particularly around New Street Station link in with the existing network of public spaces? ENV4. What investments and environmental measures can be taken to make the city centres street network including the A38 corridor more attractive to residents, visitors and workers? What should be done to improve the connections to the wider city centre? ENV5. How can the canal and river environment be developed to attract more people, become a focus for leisure and commercial activities and provide a safe movement network giving access to the wider city centre, whilst at the same time maintaining its historic character and appearance?

ENV6. Is there scope for a major new water feature in the centre, such as on the site of the wholesale markets, to act as a new focus for the streets and buildings in the area? How might this concept be developed? ENV7. How can the quality of open space in the city centre be improved to make the centre more liveable and attractive and how can the amount be increased? Are there any innovative ways in which this can be achieved, such as providing rooftop spaces? How should we plan for more outdoor events? How should the city centres open spaces be maintained and managed? ENV8. What steps can be taken to enhance the natural environment and biodiversity of the city centre, including the River Rea? ENV9. How far, and in what way, can the streets be made greener (for example by encouraging more tree planting) to create a more attractive residential and business environment, provide shade and assist in improving air quality? Can and should this approach be extended to the traditional industrial quarters? ENV10. Where and under what circumstances should tall buildings be encouraged?
27

AN OPPORTUNITY COMES AROUND ONCE A GENERATION TO PRODUCE A PLAN ON THIS SCALE

4 CITY CENTRE CONNECTIVITY THE ISSUES

4.1
4.1.1

BACKGROUND
Birmingham transformed itself in the 1950s and 1960s from a traditional city of streets into the motor city. A new inner road, later named Queensway, was built, forming a tight concrete collar around the citys core. Major investment took place to create new or widened radials such as the Aston Expressway and Digbeth High Street. The ring road, Middleway was constructed further out as a route around the wider centre. The urban design consequences of these major transport investments have already been described. Whilst the concrete collar has partly been dismantled, enough of it remains as part of the A38 corridor to act as a significant barrier to movement within the city centre. At the same time the expectation of easy access into the centre by motor vehicle remains as a legacy of this era. This historic emphasis in Birmingham on enabling and accommodating movement by private vehicles has led to an urban form that is not conducive to movement by other means. For pedestrians, this means that, although the city centre is relatively compact, conditions for walking are adversely affected by numerous physical barriers and the disconnection of different parts of the central area, and some areas have poor public realm and legibility. For cyclists, disincentives include poor provision of cycle lanes and facilities, the severance of cycling networks by major highway and railway corridors and road danger. So although improvements have been made over recent years for both pedestrians and cyclists, much more is needed if walking and cycling are to become genuinely attractive modes of transport in the city centre.

4.1.3

Traffic flows into and out of the city centre have been falling gradually over the past decade, and the City Council wants to continue this trend. However, new development within the centre, as envisaged by the Big City Plan, will lead to the generation of new car trips and therefore current levels of congestion are expected to increase unless a range of appropriate action is taken. Highway capacity increases in key locations may be necessary as a result of the increase in the total number of trips related to new development. Such infrastructure changes should be designed to keep as much traffic as possible on the main roads and out of the most sensitive city centre environments. Birmingham city centre has outstanding connectivity to a wide range of national destinations by rail, with New Street Station the focus of an extensive network of services and Moor Street and Snow Hill stations having a secondary but nonetheless important role. New Street Station is also the main route to Birmingham International Airport and thus the primary global entrance point into the city centre. However, the arrival experience is poor. Current capacity difficulties at New Street Station have been exacerbated by significant growth in passenger trips in Birmingham. The comprehensive redevelopment of New Street now has committed funding. Space to allow for four tracks between New Street and Birmingham International stations is protected over much of the route, and the opportunity for running European High Speed Train services to both the City Centre and the Airport is under investigation.

4.1.4

4.1.2

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4.1.5

With regards to other public transport, the primary issue to be addressed by the Big City Plan is whether and how the Midland Metro system might be extended, given the need to put together a practical funding package. This issue is closely inter-related with initiatives to improve both conventional bus services and to introduce Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) operations. Another important issue is on-street congestion in the city core. Streets simply do not have the physical capacity (space) to accommodate all the movement and other demands that are and are likely to be placed upon them (pedestrians, buses, trams, quality public realm). Resolving these conflicts and determining priorities on a street-by-street basis is required. Increased demand will also need to be met through improvements to alternative modes of transport, as well as demand management. The Council has developed a new transportation model for the city centre. Detailed land use surveys have established a 2004 database and scenarios have been produced for 2011, 2021 and 2031 to identify possible changes in transport demand. This has considered future levels of population, housing, employment and other activities. The preparation of the Big City Plan will interact with transport modelling, and in combination will establish required infrastructure improvements for the city centre.

4.2.2

The A38 corridor within the city centre could be radically reconfigured to greatly enhance the city centre environment and improve pedestrian/cycle crossing links between the core and the rest of the city centre. Comprehensive restructuring would enable areas to the west of the corridor to fulfil their full potential as integral parts of the city centre. Lowering Great Charles Street, dismantling the Suffolk Street viaduct or changing its slip road arrangements and filling in the Holloway Circus underpass are all major engineering projects that could be pursued. The road would still retain an important traffic carrying function. However, depending on the extent of the changes to the road infrastructure, capacity could be reduced and this could have an effect on congestion, so any proposals would require modelling to establish the impact on accessibility and design.

4.1.6

4.3
4.3.1

FREIGHT AND SERVICING

Increased residential population and expansion of retail and employment uses in the city centre will generate significant additional goods vehicle movements. Measures will be required to mitigate the effects of these vehicles on the function and quality of sensitive streets and on congestion generally, through improved street management and delivery consolidation. One approach would be to develop an Urban Freight Consolidation Centre outside the city centre. This would create a hub in a less sensitive built environment where large goods vehicles could trans-ship their loads to a fleet of small, low-emissions vehicles that would then redistribute the goods to individual premises within the city centre. The centre would need to be close to the centre to work efficiently. Another possibility would be to establish a network of suitable routes for service/ delivery vehicles in each sector of the city. This would involve investigating a network of service routes, including certain bus lanes, that prioritises access for service vehicles during limited hours. As part of this network, methods for consolidating service deliveries would be explored to reduce the impact of servicing on city centre streets.

4.3.2

4.2
4.2.1

PRIVATE MOTOR VEHICLES/ GENERAL TRAFFIC

Traffic congestion is currently related primarily to key junctions on the Ring Road, while the A38 corridor also continues to experience high levels of traffic demand. The main areas of congestion in the centre are at the junctions of Holloway Circus, Paradise Circus, St Chads, around the gyratory systems at Bull Ring/Moat Lane and at Masshouse. While access by car is and will remain vital for the success and vitality of the city centre, reducing traffic levels will be necessary if carbon emissions targets are to be met, while reduced congestion will also benefit the city. Improving the quality of alternatives to the car will clearly be essential (see later sections). The negative impacts of the physical traffic and highway infrastructure on the development and overall attractiveness of the city centre must also be addressed.

4.3.3

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4.3.4

A low emission zone would significantly reduce traffic congestion by deterring the worst polluting diesel-powered goods vehicles, coaches and buses accessing the city centre or core through initiatives such as the Urban Freight Consolidation Centre or pricing mechanisms. In turn this would greatly improve air quality, health and quality of life in the city centre Time based vehicle restrictions could be introduced. These require businesses to better manage the delivery of goods and services to periods that do not conflict with other street activities and the quality of the public realm. In this way conflicts between deliveries and pedestrian or bus activity can be effectively managed.

4.6
4.6.1

MIDLAND METRO
Centro, in partnership with Birmingham City Council, has identified four metro routes that will radiate from the city centre: t
t
The existing Line 1 running between Snow Hill and Wolverhampton. The planned Line 1 extension heading through the city centre to New Street Station then heading along Broad Street to terminate at Edgbaston and later at Junction 3 of the M5. A route to Birmingham International Airport extension running along Digbeth High Street. A route to Great Barr, using the alignment of New Town Row.

4.3.5

t
t
4.6.2

4.4
4.4.1

PARKING PROVISION
The control and management of the parking supply is usually a vital tool in influencing traffic levels. In Birmingham city centre, however, there is currently an over-supply of publicly available parking in certain areas. This allows us to think about the possibility of developing on some existing car parking sites. A city parking strategy is in preparation, for consultation in the Autumn. This will consider parking provision in the wider context of improvements in other modes of transport, the control of parking and the potential for more park and ride capacity.

Centro has obtained a Transport Works Act Order, enabling them to progress with the extension of Line 1 along Bull Street, Corporation Street, through Victoria Square to Broad Street. This option would require the removal of buses from Corporation Street in favour of the tram, but would not permit its full pedestrianisation. Centro predicts that this alignment will lead to major increases in Line 1 patronage simply through creating a direct Metro link to the New Street Gateway. To pick up further routes a one-way city centre loop is proposed to serve Southside, Eastside and Westside. (See Figure 4.1 for alternative metro routes)

4.5
4.5.1

RAIL
The number of trips made by rail to and from Birmingham has increased notably in recent years. Growth could be heading for 100% by 2035. Additional services and longer trains will handle some of this growth and the New Street Gateway redevelopment will provide a better arrival experience. Improved rail frequencies will be provided to the Airport through double tracking and, in addition, improvements to the Bordesley Chords will allow new services to access central Birmingham. These improvements may not be able to handle all the predicted growth. The opportunity for European High Speed Trains to serve Birmingham should be firmly grasped. The Big City Plan should help influence the ultimate choice of route and station location for a future HST connection to the city centre, providing the opportunity for strengthened national and international rail connections in the future. Further work is required to understand what alignment the track would take, and requisite processes for safeguarding land requirements.

4.5.2

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4.6.3

Figure 4.1 shows the proposed future metro network developed by Centro in partnership with BCC. As well as the Line 1 extension referred to above, a one-way city core loop is proposed serving Eastside, Southside and Westside quarters. The route, running around the south of the Bull Ring and immediately north of the international markets, will greatly improve tram system capacity and improve public transport accessibility in these areas. This loop would be required to deliver the airport extension from Digbeth High Street. A further extension is planned out to Great Barr via New Town Row. A route along Sherlock Street is also shown, which would infill a route to the south.

KEY Existing Line 1 Line 1 extension to Edgbaston City Centre loop City - Airport extension City - Great Barr extension Possible metro extension Alternative metro routes Proposed metro stops

Figure 4.1: Proposed Metro routes

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4.6.4

An alternative to Metro for some routes would be to implement Bus Rapid Transit. While the transport and regeneration benefits of trams are well understood in many modern cities, the costs and practical issues surrounding their implementation are considerable, while they can have adverse impacts on other modes (e.g. on pedestrians in crowded streets). Bus Rapid Transit is an intermediate mode between buses and trams, with optional features such as better vehicles, enhanced priority through guideways, and less frequent stops than conventional buses. BRT may be a more cost-effective alternative to tram in certain locations/corridors. Centro have suggested routes to Bartley Green, Chelmsley Wood and (as a pre-metro) to Perry Barr.

4.7
4.7.1

BUS
Buses have the potential to carry a greater proportion of trips to and from the city centre but suffer from various drawbacks in terms of increasing patronage, such as congestion, actual or perceived reliability, levels of comfort, and poor image generally. The Big City Plan initiative should be seen as the opportunity to pursue a transformation in the quality and indeed dignity of bus travel in Birmingham. One approach would be to reconfigure the existing bus network serving Birmingham city centre to provide a more efficient service to passengers and reduce the impact of buses on the street environment. This approach envisages the progressive installation of bus priority measures on radial routes. Showcase standard bus shelters, facilities and information, improving the quality of the waiting experience and overall public realm of the streets. This should be regarded as a do-minimum level of bus service enhancement. In addition to the above improvements, it would be possible to re-route buses around the city core and exclude them from Corporation Street. The aim would be to reduce bus congestion and environmental impact whilst maintaining and improving their attractiveness. Buses would use a circuit of streets on the edge of the core and serve clusters of stops at sites on or off-street that are well located for walking into the core itself. Significant effort will be required to make the stop/waiting areas as attractive as possible, while improved pedestrian connections and wayfinding measures would be needed to offset the loss of direct access into the core, which would be more pedestrian friendly and have an improved public realm throughout. In addition to the options identified above, Birmingham can take the opportunity represented by the Big City Plan to launch an initiative to transform the quality, attractiveness and dignity of bus travel in the city and set a new benchmark for urban transit. One approach is the pursuit of quality partnerships. Another is to encourage further improvements in hardware and software and customer facilities to develop a truly leading European public transport brand (the Birmingham Bus concept). This could be pursued with participation from vehicle manufacturers, educational establishments, product designers and others, especially those based in the region.

4.7.2

4.7.3

4.7.4

An expanded tram network could transform travel around the city

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4.8
4.8.1

WALKING
Birmingham has the potential to have the UKs most walkable big city centre. Many cross-centre trips are achievable on foot within 15-20 minutes, making walking the quickest door-to-door option. However, the quality, directness and ease of understanding of the routes involved often leave a lot to be desired. New and improved crossings, better information, greater levels of pedestrian priority in key locations and the removal of key barriers all need to form part of the picture. To begin addressing the problem, one approach might be to identify and roll out a network of outstanding walking routes, starting with the highest priority routes where early intervention should be targeted for maximum return. These would link Birminghams key activities, destinations and urban/open spaces and could incorporate a mix of street-based links, pedestrian-only routes and public spaces. They could include core pedestrian spines which would make pedestrian journeys to, from and within the city centre more viable and attractive. One issue is the need to ensure that redevelopment schemes that straddle important routes (such as Paradise Circus) accommodate fully all pedestrian desire lines in an attractive and inclusive manner. In addition, streets/routes could be identified where pedestrians need to be given higher priority than at present, especially those that are deprived of the most basic facilities. These initiatives could be supported by a comprehensive signage and legibility strategy to support journeys to key activities, destinations and urban/open spaces through conventional signage and through public realm design, supported by virtual tools (see section 4.10 on digital connectivity) that provide more comprehensive guidance on how to experience and move around the city centre. Signage would integrate pedestrian journeys with cycling and public transport.

4.9
4.9.1

CYCLING
Cycling has an important role to play in providing for future movement demands generated by city centre growth. Yet present conditions for cycling are often hostile, due to vehicle dominated streets and a shortage of cycling facilities or direct routes to and from key destinations. A concerted effort is required to improve conditions for cyclists through changing the behaviour of vehicles, removing major physical barriers and the provision of improved end to end cycling facilities. The city already has a set of core cycling routes, but segregated paths are difficult to create in a dense urban area so the issue is what other improvements can be made to develop a comprehensive network of continuous, safe routes. One approach is to develop a connected network of cycle-friendly streets with an emphasis on reducing traffic speeds and road danger on those streets. In addition, public realm improvements and street upgrades could give cycling a higher priority, with cycle parking as an integral feature. New development should provide safe and secure cycle parking and should include suitable shower facilities. Cycle parking requirements will be included in the Parking Strategy. Another possibility would be to establish a city centre cycle hire scheme. Initiatives similar to the Ve-Lib and Velo-City schemes in European cities (e.g. Paris) could provide opportunities to increase cycle travel for short trips within the core, replacing the use of more polluting modes in the most sensitive streets.

4.8.2

4.9.2

4.9.3

4.8.3

4.8.4

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4.10 DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY

4.10.1 Digital technologies have been a key driver in influencing society and shaping 21st Century living. Digital opportunities will need a 21st Century telecommunication infrastructure to become the norm for city centre development, and changes in working, learning and social patterns need to be incorporated in the future spatial design. This will need a city centre that is equipped for the growth in information, data access and communication associated with the 21st century knowledge society. The city needs a connected infrastructure that will support the citys international competitiveness, sustain existing growth and attract new high value businesses and establish itself as a leading and iconic digital city. 4.10.2 It is essential that the city centre has interactive and intelligent real time information systems to navigate and explore the city by all modes and through physical wayfinding and legibility systems, variable message signage, mobile devices and satellite navigation systems. These will enable greater linkages between the various quarters within the city centre, provide a richer visitor experience and reduce vehicle congestion through managed intelligent information and navigation systems. 4.10.3 In addition, we should ensure that new development is future proofed with suitable digital infrastructure to meet both existing and future digital and communication needs. This will require suitable ducting to enable a wired and wireless digital infrastructure capable of delivering next generation connectivity for transport, business development and innovation, open spaces such as public squares and parks and to new buildings and business premises. The concept of an underlying digital infrastructure is inherent in each of the options in this report.

4.10.4 The creation of a Virtual Birmingham is another valuable concept. Starting with a 3D representation of the City Centre, it would enable city planners, developers, stakeholders and the public to plan and visually re-shape the city centre and consider its impacts. It would enable citizens and both national and international visitors to view and navigate the city centre more effectively and interactively, providing a richer experience and engagement. It would encourage inward investment by acting as a showcase to attract national and international interest and open up opportunities to explore the art of the possible. 4.10.5 Finally, in line with the concept of the flexible and adaptable home, all new households should be equipped with a technology infrastructure fit for 21st century living capable of delivering the information, entertainment and communications needs for families across all generations.

Real time information systems and pleasant waiting environments are vital to making bus travel appealing

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4.11 STREET DESIGN

4.11.1 Streets are the fabric in which people spend a significant amount of their daily lives, moving from one place to another, socialising, spending or sitting. The layout and design of streets has a significant impact upon these activities. For Birminghams city centre, a critical issue moving forward is how to reconcile all the competing movement demands functional space for walking, cycling, public transport, freight and general vehicles with those demands that relate to the amenity of an area and its success as a place in its own right. A movement- and place-based system of street classification could be used to establish the future function and character of each street. This system would classify streets into a range of categories: paths, access streets, connecting streets, main streets, avenues and each would have a different approach to design. 4.11.2 Another possible approach would be to create the Birmingham Boulevard the transformation of the A38 corridor into an attractive route not only for vehicles but for people to walk along, fronted by shops and building entrances and lined with trees to create a much more habitable environment.

QUESTIONS
The issues set out above raise the following questions. CON1. How should we manage the anticipated growth in people movement, both natural growth and growth from new development, bearing in mind the objective of promoting non-car modes and reducing carbon emissions? How can future demands for delivery and service vehicle access to the city centre best be managed? What technological and design innovations could help facilitate deliveries to all types of premises? CON2. How can the A38 corridor within the city centre be reconfigured to reduce its negative impact, whilst still retaining an important traffic carrying function? CON3. Should the traffic-carrying capacity of the Ring Road be increased by selective junction improvements (e.g. grade separation) where congestion proves to be a particular problem? CON4. How much private car parking should be provided for new developments in the city centre? Should we require any or all new development to be car free (i.e. no parking provided) unless otherwise justified for non-commuter purposes? CON5. How, where and in what numbers should publicly available off street parking be provided? What should be the balance between long stay (commuter) and short stay (shopper) spaces? Should the controlled parking zone be extended? CON6. What should the Big City Plan say about providing for taxis and for motorcycles and scooters?

Birmingham needs a greater number of animated streets

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CON7.

How can rail play a stronger role in providing for commuter and other travel needs into the city centre, up to and beyond 2025, and what infrastructure projects will be needed to support this? Can and should the Big City Plan provide appropriate protection for a future High Speed Train route to the city centre and related disembarkation facilities?

CON11. How can we go about making the city centre the UKs most walkable centre? What streets and spaces should be the top priority walking routes? Where does attention need to be targeted to improve walkability, such as barrier removal and crossing improvement? What other kinds of improvement might be carried out? CON12. How can cycling to, from and within the city centre be encouraged and where should investment be targeted? How can the hostility of the highways environment to cyclists be removed? CON13. How can Birmingham provide a digital infrastructure to enable new and existing businesses to have a competitive advantage, globally and locally? Can a Virtual Birmingham improve peoples understanding and appreciation of the city centre, increase opportunities for the visitor economy and attract global business interests to trade with or invest in the city centre and enable the city to achieve its Connected City aspirations both locally and internationally? How should Birmingham ensure that the development of new households within the city centre have a digital infrastructure that supports family living across all generations and supports the flexible lifestyle requirements of 21st century living?

CON8. What steps need to be taken to ensure that the New Street Gateway project radically improves access to the station from all points, especially Southside. How can we best integrate Snow Hill, Moor Street and Jewellery Quarter stations with their surroundings (and a relocated Bordesley station, which would need to be moved as a result of the proposed rail chords). CON9. Where should the city centre metro routes go and how should they operate? What are the alternatives to Metro in different locations? Should an underground option be relooked at? CON10. How should we go about developing a genuinely 21st century bus system, in terms of quality, reliability, safety, comfort, image and fuel efficiency/ environmental performance? What is the future role of the bus in the city centre relative to other public transport options? What streets should buses use, where should they stop in the city centre and where should they interchange with other modes of transport?

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Gun Quarter Jewellery Quarter Eastside City Core Ladywood

CONVENTION QUARTER CHINESE QUARTER

Digbeth

Westside
ATTWOOD GREEN

GAY VILLAGE

IRISH QUARTER

Southside

Highgate

Figure 5.1: Existing quarters and proposed policy areas

Existing Quarters

Proposed Policy Area

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5 THE SPATIAL STRUCTURE OF THE CITY

5.1
5.1.1

INTRODUCTION
The urban structure of Birmingham city centre is uniquely characterised by distinct quarters around the core. The Big City Plan will use this urban structure as a framework for its proposals and policies. The Core is at the heart of the city. It contains office space for international and national businesses, a varied retail offer catering to a supra-regional catchment area, leisure facilities, a major museum and art gallery and major library containing important arts, cultural and heritage collections, key tourist attractions, and top theatre and concert venues. It also contains the Colmore Row Conservation Area, major civic buildings and spaces, several listed buildings, and the main public transport interchanges. Located around the outside of the historic Core are the distinctive quarters and neighbourhoods of Birmingham. These quarters are largely based on historic clusters of related business uses, some of which continue to this day. This distinctiveness must be maintained as it is part of the essential character of the city. At the same time the quarters must change and adapt to meet future needs and to support Birminghams global city agenda. Some of the quarters are more defined and historically established than others, and there are more opportunities for change in certain quarters than in others. Some will see transformational change and others a strengthening and enhancing of their existing character. Physical edges such as roads and canals form a natural boundary between the areas although it is important to ensure that opposite sides of roads and canals are treated consistently. Although the defined city centre stops at the Ring Road, it will be important to consider how connections from the centre to the neighbourhoods outside can be enhanced. This particularly applies in the case of the important potential development sites outside the centre, such as Birmingham Wheels and Icknield Port Loop.

5.1.5

The spatial structure of the Big City Plan will be based on the following policy areas (see Figure 5.1): t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
The City Core Southside Highgate Westside Ladywood Jewellery Quarter Gun Quarter Eastside Digbeth

5.1.2

5.1.6

5.1.3

Some of these policy areas relate directly to existing quarters and neighbourhoods such as the Jewellery Quarter, the Gun Quarter, Highgate and Ladywood. Other policy areas are an amalgamation of quarters and neighbourhoods. For example, the Southside policy area includes the Chinese Quarter, the Gay Village and the Entertainment District around the Hippodrome. Westside includes Brindleyplace, the Convention Quarter, Attwood Green and Park Central and Broad Street as far as Fiveways. Digbeth includes the Irish Quarter. The individual quarters of course still exist, and will continue to do so. The structure, which is shown in Figure 5.1, will form the framework for a more detailed masterplan. Later stages of this report set out the issues and options for these quarters and neighbourhoods. However, before discussing these in more detail, it is necessary to consider how the growth of the city centre and the expansion of central area uses should be dealt with. This is addressed in the following section.

5.1.7

5.1.4

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5.2
5.2.1

THE EXPANSION OF CENTRAL AREA USES

Central areas include (among many things) high value offices and commercial uses, a varied and large retail offer, high density city centre living, leisure, tourism and cultural provision. Traditionally these were contained within the Historic Core at the heart of the city, an area mostly bounded by the Queensway. However, the city is not static and Birminghams growing role as a global city will require a wider area to accommodate these central area uses. In fact, this has already been happening for some time. The Queensway has become more permeable in recent years, and in the last 10 years central area uses have expanded to the west around Brindleyplace. Arguably, this process has been going on for almost 50 years if the large scale office development in the Fiveways area is taken into account. More recently, central area functions have begun to expand to the east. The expansion to the west in the form of Brindleyplace has been very successful and is easily walkable from New Street. The Mailbox, Baskerville House and the leisure uses along Broad Street have also expanded the citys central area functions westwards. The iconic Bullring development to the south has made a very positive contribution towards raising the profile of Birmingham. It integrates well with the retail offer in New Street. During the life of the plan, there will be further expansion of the central area functions beyond the historic core. The Big City Plan will be the catalyst for expanding the scale and improving the quality of these functions. The next location for central area expansion is Eastside. The Masshouse development and Millennium Point have already started this process.

5.2.5

There is also huge potential to improve the built environment to the south of the Historic Core, beginning with the redevelopment of New Street Station. This transformational development will be fundamental to raising the profile of Birmingham as a global city. The proposals for New Street Station will be immensely beneficial to improving the arrival experience into the city. In addition, the Wholesale Markets are a very large site close to the heart of the city. These two big opportunities will form the basis of a major transformation to the south of the traditional Historic Core. They form two poles of growth which can be used to transform the quality of the streets, spaces and transport links in the whole of the southern part of the city centre. To get the most out of these opportunities, New Street Station and the Wholesale Markets must be considered together. Thus although the structure of the plan is based on the defined policy areas for the sake of convenience, central area uses will expand beyond the historic core into neighbouring areas of the city centre, and in particular into Eastside, Westside and Southside. The intention is that these areas will develop vibrant distinctive characters: for example the Gay Village and Chinese Quarter in Southside, leisure uses in Westside, the learning quarter within Eastside and food and specialist functions and markets in Southside. In reading the following sections, therefore, it is important to bear in mind that, whilst the policy areas are defined by lines drawn on a plan, the activities within the city are changing and dynamic and the central area functions will not be confined by these boundaries. An important part of the Big City Plan will be to allow for the growth and expansion of Birminghams central area functions.

5.2.6

5.2.2

5.2.7

5.2.3

5.2.8

5.2.4

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Gun Quarter Jewellery Quarter

ICKNIELD PORT LOOP

Eastside

CITY CORE Ladywood Westside Digbeth

BIRMINGHAM WHEELS

Southside Highgate
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Figure 5.2: Proposed Spatial Structure of the city centre

existing central area uses proposed expansion of central area uses

transition zone and corridors other areas of transformation

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WE ASPIRE TO SATISFY PEOPLES GENUINE NEED FOR PUBLIC LIFE

6 ISSUES AND OPTIONS FOR THE POLICY AREAS

6.1.1 The following section of the report sets out the options for the future development of the city centre. The Council wants to know what you think about these options and if there are any other options that should be considered. IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE OPTIONS Possible options are set out for each Policy Area. The options are there to stimulate discussion and to get people thinking about the best way forward for the city centre. Sometimes several options can be combined. Sometimes they cannot - they will be of the either/or variety. You may think of other options that havent been mentioned. If you have, please tell us.

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8
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9 6 7

11 T
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13 S

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s p l ili d r a Ph he St Cat

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es

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12 St . Ch Ma ur rtin ch s
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THE CORE
6.2
6.2.1

THE CORE
The Core is the area that visitors will initially identify as being Birmingham. They will see with a critical eye the quality of its streets, its buildings, its shops, its leisure and cultural facilities and its transport system. They will also see the connections, or lack of them, within the city centre. National and international businesses will be sensitive to the availability of high quality new accommodation in an attractive, culturally rich and sound economic environment. These things are crucial to the global status and image of Birmingham and its ability to attract investment. And at a local level, the core of the city is central to civic pride and the attractiveness of Birmingham as a place where local people want to live. This area is the traditional economic hub of Birmingham with prime offices and a large retail offer. It contains the retail Golden Triangle of New Street, Bullring and the High Street. It is home to the primary public transport hub of Birmingham New Street Station and is therefore a key arrival point into Birmingham. The Core is densely built up making efficient use of land, historically established with good street layout and street enclosure. The high quality historic environment of the Core is interspersed with many post war and modern developments, a combination which accentuates the historic environment. Much of the historic environment is protected by conservation area designations which aim to preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the conservation areas. There are several landmark buildings, the most notable being the Bullring development, the Rotunda, Council House and adjoining Museum and Art Gallery and the Town Hall.

6.2.4

There are numerous buildings that are statutorily listed, including ten Grade I listed buildings. The centrepiece space is St. Philips Churchyard. This successful and attractive open space has a clear and well enclosed pedestrian link to Victoria Square to the west which is impressively overlooked by the Grade I listed Town Hall building and the Grade II* Council House. Colmore Row and Environs Conservation Area contains a fine ensemble of attractive buildings. The series of connected open spaces and squares continues beyond Victoria Square through to Chamberlain Square and then onwards via Paradise Forum and alongside the Library of Birmingham to Centenary Square. These interconnected open spaces and public squares offer a great walking environment. Much of the north east area of St Philips is within Steelhouse Conservation Area. The Victorian Law Courts within the conservation area are Grade I listed and there are many other Grade II* and Grade II listed buildings. The Childrens Hospital is within the conservation area and this is locally listed. In terms of movement, the walking routes within the area do not connect well in the vicinity of New Street Station or in the direction of the Jewellery Quarter. There is noticeable pedestrian congestion in some places and also significant bus congestion. The traditional core is too small for a city the size of Birmingham. Central area uses have expanded with the dismantling of the worst parts of Queensway and have the potential for further expansion (see Figure 5.2). Some areas have development proposals at an advanced stage in the planning process, for example the Natwest Tower and the area around Snow Hill Station. Other developments from the 1950s to the 1980s which do not contribute positively to the built environment may become the focus for redevelopment during the life of the plan. The core will remain the focus for Grade A offices but opportunities should be sought outside the established office belt for new office development which will add to the variety of accommodation in the city centre.

6.2.2

6.2.5

6.2.6

6.2.3

6.2.7

6.2.8

6.2.9

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6.2.10 The redevelopment of New Street station also presents a huge opportunity to improve the arrival experience for a large numbers of visitors to the city and establish positive first impressions of the city. It provides further opportunity to reconfigure and upgrade the whole of the area around it and open up Southside. 6.2.11 These development proposals have, so far, been guided by the existing UDP. But the UDP is out of date in a number of respects in its approach towards the Core. It directs retail development to the Bullring (now built) and Martineau Galleries (phase 1 now built), and seeks to prevent other retail developments of a scale that would threaten these two schemes. 6.2.12 However, the emerging RSS contains a substantial figure for new retail development in Birmingham. A large proportion of this should be directed to the city centre. This requires a policy change compared from the UDP. The question arises as to where this retail growth should be accommodated, in the core or in the areas just around the core, such as Southside or Westside. It will also be necessary to look at policies that encourage a wider range of uses within some retail areas and shopping streets to enhance vibrancy and reduce vacancies.

CORE OPTIONS
CORE OPTION C1: The Core as the regional retail centre. There would be a continuation of the current distribution of retailing, together with modest growth. Shopping would expand into the areas where retail development has been permitted. Retail floorspace would not expand too far in order to allow patterns of retailing to continue to adjust to the Bullring development. The aim would be to use any growth in retail expenditure to support the existing street-based shopping pattern rather than seek further major growth. Investment would be concentrated on the public realm, for example improving the upper end of the High Street to create a better magnet of attraction at the opposite end from the Bullring. CORE OPTION C2: The Core as a retail centre with a more global appeal. Retail floorspace would be substantially increased with further major development south of the Bullring (see Southside). High end market retailing and specialist and niche retailing would be encouraged towards the northern end of the shopping centre, supported by the office employment sector. Special efforts would be made to harness Birminghams ethnic diversity in developing a core with a uniquely diverse range of shops, cafes and retail products. CORE OPTION C3: The Core as a regional office centre. The existing office corridor of Five Ways Brindleyplace Colmore Row Snow Hill would be maintained with expansion in line with previous medium term trends. Growth would be modest to enable the market to absorb the ongoing floorspace development at Snow Hill and Colmore Circus. CORE OPTION C4: The Core as a global business hub. A major expansion of office floorspace would take place in a polycentric pattern with different kinds of office and commercial growth in a range of locations including the area of New Street Station, Eastside and Southside. CORE OPTION C5: The Core as the focus for fine buildings, great streets and fine walking routes. Further landmark buildings would be encouraged to mark the centre of the global city. The large highways such as the A38 axis would be greened and made into pedestrian-friendly boulevards. Better connections would be established across Queensway into the neighbouring quarters, such as the Jewellery Quarter.

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SOUTHSIDE
6.3
6.3.1

SOUTHSIDE
Southside is the main arrival location into Birmingham by national and international public transport (west coast main line, rail connection to airport and coach). It includes the area south of New Street down to and including the northern end of the Wholesale Markets. It takes in key sites such as New Street Station, the Arcadian Centre, the Wholesale Markets, the Rag Market, the Ice Rink, the Hippodrome, and the existing Chinese Quarter and Gay Village, with their bars, clubs and restaurants. But at present it does not have the image, quality or excitement of big city nightlife. Southside has some good streets including one of Birminghams last surviving courtyards of back to back housing, now restored and run as a fascinating museum by the National Trust. Southside has some other good urban features. The sinuous Ringway Centre, completed in 1961, catches the eye as it curves along Smallbrook Queensway and bridges Hurst Street. The Beetham Tower (the Radisson Hotel) contributes to Southsides skyline. Crosbys Southside is a recent award winning development on Hurst Street. It has also helped increase the number of shops in the area. The development built on a perimeter block principle has been successful in providing good enclosure, consistent street line and adding interest and variety to the area.

6.3.4

6.3.2

6.3.3

With its excellent transport connections and major arrival point, about to be improved, this is the area that has the greatest potential to accommodate a major expansion of central area uses outside the core. The area offers the prospect of a vibrant district where a number of land uses could successfully co-exist, such as office, retail, residential, culture, entertainment, restaurants and markets. In order to achieve this the street structure needs to be repaired to create a place that is much easier to move through. The redevelopment of the Wholesale Markets will provide the opportunity to remove barriers to movement, create new open spaces and open up routes to the area from Park Central, Eastside, Digbeth and Highgate. One possibility is to create a sizable city square, Moat Square, together with a lake or major water feature, on the site of the medieval moated manor house to draw people down from the Bullring and into Southside. This would further the theme of Birmingham as a Water City. The centre of activity in the area would be New Street Station, Hurst Street and Moat Square. The images on page 51 show how this could be achieved.

Should a new square be the focal point of Southside?

Should Southside become a new commercial centre and focus for tall buildings?
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SOUTHSIDE OPTIONS
SOUTHSIDE OPTION S1: Southside as a prime office destination. A major new office quarter would be located near New Street Station and the area of the Wholesale Markets with ancillary independent retail, cafs and restaurants. In order to maintain activity in the area in the evenings and at weekends, the offices would be supplemented by residential apartments and active ground floor uses, such as restaurants and cafs. SOUTHSIDE OPTION S2: How could high-density, distinctive housing be accommodated in Southside? Southside as an important shopping destination. Southside would be developed as a major mainstream extension to Birminghams shopping centre, to draw shoppers down from the Bull Ring towards the area currently occupied by the Wholesale Markets. SOUTHSIDE OPTION S3: Magnet Southside. A major new public square of the scale and quality of Victoria Square would be created on the site of the former moated manor. The area would also contain a lake and water feature. Southside would be come a magnet for people using the city centre and would host a wide range of activities from open air events to markets, theatres and cafes. It could also be the location of a landmark cultural building. SOUTHSIDE OPTION S4: Southside for specialist shopping. Niche retailing and leisure would be developed around Hurst Street, with smaller units reflective of the historic grain, including independent shops, cafs, restaurants and residential. Birminghams retail offer would be expanded to the south of the station which would create a retail loop from the Mailbox, through Southside, the Bullring, along New Street and back to the Mailbox. SOUTHSIDE OPTION S5: Hurst Street could become lined with small cafs and shops Southside as a food quarter. Southside would be the location of outdoor food markets, retaining the legacy of food in the area by bringing together the markets, shops and restaurants together into a food quarter, potentially centred around Moat Square (See Option 3).

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SOUTHSIDE OPTION S6. Southside as a theatre and entertainment district. A major entertainment quarter would be developed to complement the existing Hippodrome, back-to-back museum, Electric Cinema and Birmingham Royal Ballet. A large square would be created on the site of the Wholesale Markets, large enough to stage major outdoor events, and make this a focus for a much enlarged leisure and theatre sector, with close links with the Hippodrome and Gay Village. SOUTHSIDE OPTION S7: Southside living. A high-density residential neighbourhood would be developed, with ancillary local retail, cafs and restaurants and one, two and three bedroom apartments and penthouses of generous proportions, distinguishing it from existing developments in the city centre. SOUTHSIDE OPTION S8: Southside High. Southside would become a focus for a cluster of tall buildings. The two towers proposed to the south of New Street Station would be the focus of a larger cluster of tall buildings. Very tall buildings would be encouraged on the Wholesale Markets site. SOUTHSIDE OPTION S9: Southside medium rise. Southside would become a high density but medium rise area of 6 to 8 storeys based on a perimeter block system, with mixed uses on the ground floor. A new direct route from Southside to Highgate could be created, like this street lined with shops, cafs and markets

THE EFFECT ON THE CITYS CHARACTER OF HAVING MORE INDEPENDENTS ON ITS STREETS WOULD BE IMMEASURABLE

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THE ELEMENTS OF A FOOD QUARTER

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BIRMINGHAM WATER CITY?

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HIGHGATE
6.4
6.4.1

HIGHGATE
Highgate is one of the largest residential communities in the city centre, but is also a significant employment area. It has a range of housing, much of which is social housing, including semi-detached properties, terraces and tower blocks. It also contains one of the most important open spaces Highgate Park some interesting buildings including the Grade II listed Paragon Hotel and several very fine industrial buildings. It will be the location for the St Albans Academy. It is also the location of the Central Mosque, which is a landmark building and has one of the largest congregations in the UK. However, the quality of the housing stock is variable, and the surrounding environment could be better. Open spaces, for example, are often incremental, left over spaces. Some of the industrial premises consist of low rise and space-hungry warehouses and workspaces of a mixed age and quality. Highgate Park does not meet its full potential. It is unimaginatively landscaped, has little park furniture and has large areas of hard surfacing. The park therefore has considerable scope for change and improvement. The great advantage of Highgate is that it has an existing long established residential community that can be developed and extended to form an outstanding new residential area and a focus for family living within the city centre. A substantial growth in population will help to support more local shops and community facilities, support new public transport services and make better use of the Park. This will be better for the community that already lives there. Better facilities in Highgate can also benefit the neighbouring areas of Birmingham outside the Ring Road, including Sparkbrook and Balsall Heath if connections across the road are improved. Highgate also has a long ring road frontage which offers the opportunity for selective redevelopment to improve the image of the area and the entrances into the city centre from this direction.

6.4.5

6.4.2

Highgate therefore has the potential for transformational change. With its views, its park and its position within walking distance to all the facilities of the core area, Highgate has the makings of a desirable residential neighbourhood and has the potential to deliver the LIVE LOCAL ambition. Three and four storey town housing, maisonettes, mews houses and some apartments could provide a critical mass and density of population to support local services whilst allowing the provision of private open space in the form of gardens, roof terraces and balconies. The area could form a focus for family city living, and with the right mix of housing, schools and local facilities it could be attractive to both affluent professionals, and those who need affordable housing. The transformation of Highgate cannot come without better connections to the city core, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists. There is scope for creating a fine new walking route the Highgate Walk from the south side of the citys core. Residential growth of this kind and any proposed new route will almost certainly result in the displacement of some industrial activity. There are some very long established businesses in the area which provide significant employment and these may seek to remain. This will have implications for the design and development of the areas around. The approach to the development of Highgate will have to take this into account and will require a fine-grained and sensitive strategy.

6.4.6

6.4.3

6.4.7

6.4.4

Could Highgate Park be overlooked by homes?

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HIGHGATE OPTIONS
HIGHGATE OPTION H1: Highgate transformed. Highgate would be developed as an exemplar family residential neighbourhood supported by high quality local services such as schools, doctors surgeries, local shops and cafes. It would be held up as a model example of a residential neighbourhood in terms of its environmental standards, its utility services, its adaptable homes, its neighbourhood facilities, its accessibility, its digital communications and its vibrant, safe streets. A mix of homes would be provided which would be designed to be adaptable to peoples changing needs and to the evolving social and economic environment. This option would build on the existing residential strengths of this area; there are already primary and secondary schools as well as Highgate Park. The park would be improved and there would be a focus on housing renewal to provide a better edge to the park and better natural surveillance. The new Highgate would be linked to Southside and the City Core by an attractive new route to encourage people to walk to the centre. HIGHGATE OPTION H2: Highgate improved. The mixture of housing and employment uses in the area would not change significantly but there would be incremental change including selective redevelopment or improvement of existing housing and industrial buildings and some infill development. This option would promote gradual change as and when opportunities arise. The frontage to the Park would be improved through selective housing renewal to provide better natural surveillance.

HIGHGATE OPTION H3: Highgate Strategic Park. Highgate Park would be expanded and its range of facilities greatly increased in order to create another major city park to match Birminghams aspiration as a world city. The park would be of the highest quality design, with imaginative landscaping and a variety of functions which reflect the diversity of surrounding communities. The park would be promoted as a resource for people of all ages and abilities and would be used for relaxation, learning, sport and childrens play. Improvements would be made to the boundaries of the park, ensuing that buildings front onto the park, providing natural surveillance at all times of the day. HIGHGATE OPTION H4: Highgate Local Park. Under this option Highgate Park would be retained in its current form with improvements to its overall quality and function and a better park edge through selective redevelopment. Investment would ensure that the park was of the highest quality design, with imaginative landscaping and a variety of functions that provide for all surrounding communities. Where possible, improvements would be made to the boundaries of the park, ensuring an element of natural surveillance at all times.

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THE FUTURE OF URBAN FAMILY LIVING IN BIRMINGHAM CITY CENTRE?

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WESTSIDE
6.5
6.5.1

WESTSIDE
Westside has seen several waves of expanding central area uses: the offices around Five Ways, Baskerville House and Alpha Tower; the cultural area including the Rep theatre, the NIA, Brindleyplace and the Mailbox; and the leisure area along Broad Street including the Broadway Entertainment Complex and the Cineworld. Westside also includes the Attwood Green area and the ongoing development at Park Central, the first phase of a large 10 year housing regeneration programme, which is well under way and is substantially occupied. Park Central creates a new urban neighbourhood close to the cultural, retail, and commercial heart of the city with a range of housing sizes and tenures set around Sunset Park. Near Attwood Green is the Bath Row and Holloway Head area - an area on the fringe of the city core that has seen little change over the last 30 years. The area is still home to a mix of light industrial / warehouse uses, some community activities and office uses, some of which may have functional connections with the city centre. Two towers, the sentinels, mark a gateway at Holloway Head with Beetham Tower (the Radisson Hotel) beyond. The pedestrianlevel environment here is not of high quality. As a result Westside has a mixed character. The area is pulled together by Centenary Square and the Broad Street movement axis and by the canal network, but still tends to function as a series of disparate elements. The high quality environment in Centenary Square, Brindleyplace and Gas Street Basin does not continue into Broad Street or Five Ways, and the NIA has a poor frontage with multi storey car parks fronting the sensitive canalside.

6.5.5

There are still a number of landmark projects in the pipeline, including the Cube, the V building, Arena Central, Baskerville Wharf, Paradise Circus and the relocation of the Library of Birmingham. These quality developments will bring a critical mass of people into the area which could help to support niche and specialist shops. The Bath Row / Holloway Head area represents the most significant remaining redevelopment opportunity in the area and its redevelopment is being guided by a development brief; so far, not much development has come forward. There are major opportunities to provide better pedestrian links between Park Central, Westside and Southside through Holloway Head. In addition to these development proposals which are already in the pipeline, there may be other opportunities in the future. The National Indoor Arena occupies a valuable city centre location adjacent to areas of major change, including Arena Central and as discussed above does not have an attractive presence. We need to think about how further improvements might be made in this area. There are also significant opportunities to improve the quality of the public realm within the Westside area, particularly in the area around Fiveways, along Broad Street and the NIA and along some of the canal network. The Broad Street area is an important focus for Westside; although it developed an entertainment function in the 1990s, its role in the future may be more akin to the local high street with shops and services for the growing residential and business communities around it.

6.5.6

6.5.2

6.5.7

6.5.3

6.5.4

6.5.8

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WESTSIDE OPTION W1: Westside as a commercial quarter. This option would encourage future commercial redevelopment within the Westside area, including higher value office, retail and leisure uses. This would build on the success of Brindleyplace and capitalise on the proximity of Westside to the legal and financial centre of the city. WESTSIDE OPTION W2: Westside as a specialist shopping area. Specialist retailing would develop further in the area, focused on the canal, The Mailbox, The Cube, the area around Bridge Street and the NIA area. This option will encourage higher end retailing to locate in Westside, therefore consolidating the existing retail offer at the Mailbox. The Cube would act as an anchor and as a springboard for future specialist retailing. WESTSIDE OPTION W3: Westside as an entertainment quarter. Broad Street would become a major entertainment boulevard. Much more commercial leisure development would be encouraged with larger scale buildings, wide pavements and vibrant advertising along the street to create the character of a brash and buzzy entertainment boulevard. WESTSIDE OPTION W4: Westside as a local centre. Broad Street and Fiveways would be the focus of the growing residential and business community and would provide a range of locally-oriented shops and services for those communities, with good links through to Park Central, Ladywood and Icknield Port Loop. WESTSIDE OPTION W5: Walking Westside. Create a tree lined avenue along the route of Suffolk Street Queensway, lined with tall buildings, to create a pedestrian friendly boulevard. This could require the removal of the slip road adjacent to the Orion Building and its replacement with a wider pavement and trees. It might even involve the removal of some of the heavy duty highway structures such as the flyover over Navigation Street. Further attention would be given to improving the pedestrian links between the Core and Westside through Paradise Circus and Holloway Head, and between Broad Street and the neighbouring residential areas. Road crossings would be at grade wherever possible rather than via bridges and underpasses.

Broad Street as a brash and buzzy entertainment strip?

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LADYWOOD
6.6
6.6.1

LADYWOOD
Ladywood is a housing area of variable quality, with some local shopping and social facilities and an environment that could benefit from significant improvement. Designed in part on the now old fashioned principles, with separate pedestrian and vehicle routes, the area falls significantly short against a number of urban design criteria. Streets and spaces are not overlooked, back gardens are exposed, leading to a perception of insecurity, there is no sense of enclosure, some of the spaces have a left-over and poorly maintained feel, and the area is inward-looking and not easy to navigate. Yet Ladywood is very close to the city centre and adjacent to the canal and could be a very desirable place to live. Most of the housing is Council owned and is very low density with the two to three storey housing appearing suburban and not reflective of its location close to the city centre. The residential area is interspersed with a few high-rise council towers. The newest development has taken place on the canalside, being mainly 9-10 storey, privately owned apartments that turn their backs to the rest of the Ladywood estate and restrict access to the canal by residents of that estate. Gradual improvement of Local Authority housing stock in Ladywood has taken place. However, this area presents a great opportunity for major transformation into a successful neighbourhood with a strong community focus. The quality of the housing can be significantly improved along with the configuration of open space. The canal frontage can then be utilised to its full potential and linkages through the area and to the core and NIA can be much improved. A new high quality residential development of four to seven storeys is already taking place along Ryland Street. Based on perimeter blocks with landscaped courtyards, a variety of colours, material and heights.

6.6.7

The Icknield Port Loop area immediately to the west of Ladywood is being developed as a sustainable urban neighbourhood of mixed housing types and tenures with the canal loop as its focus. Its present disadvantage is that it is slightly isolated from the city centre as the ring road, canal and railway all form barriers. The Big City Plan creates the opportunity of investigating how those barriers can be overcome and create a number of routes through Icknield Port Loop, Ladywood and on to the city centre, effectively merging the two neighbourhoods. Aligning housing, planning and education policy and projects within Ladywood gives us the opportunity to create a properly functioning neighbourhood.

6.6.8

6.6.2

6.6.3

6.6.4

6.6.5

6.6.6

Schools should be a integral part of an urban neighbourhood and be of high quality in terms of achievement and environment.
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LADYWOOD OPTION L1: Ladywood renewed. The area would be comprehensively redeveloped to create a medium density residential urban neighbourhood fully supported by local amenities of exemplary standard. The area would be developed with higher quality homes, better streets and spaces and a greater variety of local amenities and a more even balance between privately owned, shared-ownership and council rented homes. There would be apartments around key focal points like the local high street or square, and a range of other homes elsewhere including family dwellings, retirement homes and special needs housing. The quarter would have an improved range of community facilities, schools, local shopping, working opportunities and green spaces. New linkages through the area would be developed to connect Ladywood with surrounding areas, particularly Icknield Port Loop and Westside. LAYDWOOD OPTION L2: Ladywood evolving. Ladywood would gradually change to create a medium density residential urban neighbourhood, supported by local services. The aim would be to move towards a better environment, a better balance of housing tenure, improved green spaces, community facilities and connections with other areas. The Housing Department and RSLs would make improvements as and when sites are available, focusing on improving existing dwellings as well as introducing new homes. High density family homes are the norm in Amsterdam

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How do you want to see Ladywood transformed?

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JEWELLERY QUARTER
6.7
6.7.1

JEWELLERY QUARTER
The Jewellery Quarter has strong functional links with its past, retaining specialist jewellery manufacturing and designing as well as retailing. It also has a growing entertainment, commercial and professional business sector in the part nearer to the city centre around St Pauls Square. It has many high quality buildings set in an uncompromisingly industrial streetscape, is protected by a conservation area and is a potential candidate as a World Heritage Site. The centrepiece of the historic environment in the Jewellery Quarter is St Pauls Square. The quarter is also home to Key Hill Cemetery and the Church of England Cemetery on Warstone Lane. These are the only areas of open space in the quarter. The earliest buildings in the Jewellery Quarter were residential. Later demand for industrial uses led to the conversion of properties in a number of ways. Some of them continued to be lived in with little division between domestic and industrial accommodation. Buildings containing both houses and workshops are now rare. An example being 27-32 Mary Street. Today the area is characterised by purpose built manufactories and workshops from the 19th Century. Fringe central area activities occupy land fronting Great Charles Street / Queensway, and more domestic scale office and residential developments abut St. Pauls Square and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. The views of the city centre from the quarter accentuate its proximity to the core. An important connection to the core is Church Street which connects St Pauls and St Philips. This is however severed by the Queensway. The Big City Plan should examine how the connections between the Jewellery Quarter and the Core can be improved and whether redevelopment of major sites presents an opportunity to improve pedestrian connections. Metro Line 1 runs through the Jewellery Quarter and provides connection from Snow Hill to Wolverhampton. A railway line also runs through the quarter from Snow Hill to Stourbridge and Solihull.

6.7.5

6.7.2

Although generally regarded as a success, there remain significant levels of under-use and vacancy in the area. The area has proved popular with residential / mixed use developers, with major redevelopment taking place in the less historic industrial fringe, but in the more traditional parts of the quarter there are potential tensions between residential growth and the retention of workshop accommodation. Indeed, at the moment, the Councils existing policy restricts non-industrial activity within the heart of the Jewellery Quarter, particularly within the Golden Triangle and the Industrial Middle. In light of these factors, the Big City Plan should examine options for different planning policy approaches in the quarter. The Big City Plan will need to consider the opportunities for mixed use development within the Jewellery Quarter. There are already a number of development proposals in the pipeline, including a new development around Carver Street, Camden Street and Pope Street, and there are discussions regarding the future of the sites on Great Charles Queensway. Furthermore, the existing UDP identifies opportunities for mixed use development the urban village proposal encourages the provision of space for small businesses as well as new residential development. Improved transport linkages between the Jewellery Quarter, the Core and the Convention Centre can provide further opportunity for a smoother transition from the quarter to the core.

6.7.6

6.7.3

6.7.7

6.7.4

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JEWELLERY QUARTER OPTIONS

JEWELLERY QUARTER OPTION JQ1: Jewellery Quarter: a growing creative quarter. The focus would be on expanding the number and range of quality freehold workshop and business premises with parking, suitable for jewellery businesses, professional offices and other creative industries. Larger development sites including new build and conversions would be developed for commercial uses with a range of unit sizes including such workshop/professional space. Where the existing historic buildings did not lend themselves easily to this approach, residential conversions would be acceptable. JEWELLERY QUARTER OPTION JQ2: Jewellery Quarter: a desirable residential and mixed use quarter. This option would encourage, where appropriate, residential development and conversion on the upper floors of buildings throughout the Jewellery Quarter, with parking, whilst maintaining the existing character of the area on ground floor level with small manufactories. Larger new build sites would be developed mostly for residential. The aim would be to create a highly desirable and fashionable residential quarter (see also Option 3). This option would still maintain the existing character of the Jewellery Quarter whilst encouraging more residential development to help towards meeting the targets of the Regional Spatial Strategy. JEWELLERY QUARTER OPTION JQ3: Jewellery Quarter: a specialist shopping and tourist destination. There would be a strong impetus towards encouraging specialist and niche retailing on the ground floors, particularly in the historic parts of the quarter. The range of shopping would go beyond jewellery to include, for example, niche fashion goods. A focus for retailing would be identified, with associated signage, parking and public realm improvements. The aim would be twofold: this would become Birminghams upmarket niche and specialist shopping area; and the initiative would encourage more people into the quarter to sustain the historic building stock and raise the national profile of the area. This option would work well with option 2, which would bring spending power into the quarter.

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GUN QUARTER
6.8
6.8.1

GUN QUARTER
The Gun Quarter is dominated by industrial uses with some commercial uses around Queensway and Lancaster Circus. The area has links with its traditional roots and there are still gun manufacturers and traders based in the quarter. However, most of the area has long lost its traditional associations. The area has seen the growth of commercial offices adjacent to the city core. The majority of the urban fabric of the area, however, is characterised by industrial and warehouse buildings, which do not relate to Birminghams global city ambitions. There are high levels of vacancies and underuse in the industrial stock of the area and manufacturing employment has declined rapidly. The area now exhibits relatively low activity levels within a stones throw of the City Core. The building stock is generally of mediocre quality. The only exception to the industrial character of this area is a large pocket of housing in the north west area of the quarter. The area contains schools and community facilities but it is very close to the declining industrial area and the poor quality of the underused stock gives the housing area a poor setting. Walking routes through to the city centre are poor and do not appear secure. A strength of the urban fabric is that it generally follows a traditional street pattern. The City Centre Canal Corridor Framework recognises this strength as presenting an opportunity to introduce other land uses if the industrial uses cease to operate in this area. The presence of the existing residential area with its school and open spaces provides a basis on which to build a larger mixed residential community, if the existing area of industry is reduced in size, like Highgate this could be developed as an exemplar family neighbourhood.

6.8.6

The proximity of the Gun Quarter to the city centre presents an opportunity to maximise the land values at this location. The canal frontage along the southern boundary of the quarter presents a further opportunity. Buildings currently turn their back to the canal. The canal frontage is suitable for domestic scale mixed residential, office, leisure/tourism uses. Indeed, this mix of uses is encouraged within the Canal Corridor SPG. The connections with the city centre need to be made more accessible, particularly across Queensway to maximise the potential of this quarter. Already recent improvements to St Chads Circus have made the city centre more accessible from the Gun Quarter. Account should also be taken of the need for physical connections with the potential mixed-use proposals on the opposite side of the Ring Road in the emerging draft Preferred Option for the Aston, Newtown and Lozells Area Action Plan (also a Development Plan Document). While there are no significant developments taking place within the Gun Quarter, there are a number of developments in the pipeline that are in close proximity. These include proposals at Snow Hill and Lancaster Circus. Lancaster Circus is seen as an area of major opportunity with vacant under utilised sites. The UDP encourages commercial development around Queensway and Lancaster Circus, with further opportunities existing towards Birmingham and the Fazeley Canal. In the longer term retail and wholesale premises fronting Constitution Hill may be suitable for mixed use development including housing. Further out the junction of New John Street, Dartmouth Circus seen as suitable for retail warehousing.

6.8.7

6.8.2

6.8.3

6.8.8

6.8.9

6.8.4

6.8.5

6.8.10 A recent study of Birminghams Housing Capacity suggests that there is more potential for residential development concentrated along the southern boundary of the Gun Quarter.

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GUN QUARTER OPTIONS

GUN QUARTER OPTION GQ1: Gun Quarter the workshop quarter. The building stock would be retained as an industrial resource. The industrial use of buildings would be protected and incremental improvements would be promoted to the condition of the built environment. The Gun Quarter could be a resource for accommodating small businesses displaced from elsewhere in the city centre as a result of redevelopment; for example, if major residential development were to take place at Highgate, the displaced employment could find accommodation in the Gun Quarter. The space available in the Gun Quarter may need to be modernised and adapted to facilitate this option. GUN QUARTER OPTION GQ2: Gun Quarter for high end business. This option would encourage higher value city centre uses and high tech manufacturing within the Gun Quarter. The continual improvement and modernisation of existing premises within the area would be encouraged. The quarter could take businesses related to the growing office area nearly in the core. Although the Gun Quarter would remain a predominantly employment based area, a mixture of uses including residential and supporting local services could be encouraged where appropriate, for example along the Fazeley Canal. This would help to raise values within the area, ensuring the continual improvement and modernisation of existing premises and uses. GUN QUARTER OPTION GQ3: Gun Quarter as a residential as well as business area. This option would envisage a substantial expansion of the existing housing area and a major reduction in the old industrial area, which is already substantially vacant. The option would help considerably to meet Birminghams housing needs, could help to foster a more mixed family-oriented residential community and would greatly improve the surroundings of the existing estate and neighbouring schools. This option would also require improved linkages to the city centre. The option would work with Option 2 above, enabling the upgrading of selective industrial areas and at the same time providing coherent residential neighbourhoods.

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EASTSIDE
6.9 EASTSIDE
CONTEXT AND ANALYSIS 6.9.1 Eastside is an area that is already in transition. The removal of the barrier created by Queensway has paved the way for the eastwards expansion of central area uses into Eastside. This is being guided by a number of documents. The aim is to develop Eastside as a successful and attractive quarter in its own right, with a distinctive character and sense of place. The emphasis is on learning and technology related activities, a high quality public realm, good pedestrian and cycle connections, strong public transport routes and attractive gateways. Millennium Point is a science, technology and learning resource, and includes the Thinktank museum of science and discovery, the Hub, the IMAX cinema, the Technology Innovation Centre and the University of First Age, together with a number of other educational institutions and commercial tenants. Eastside also contains a significant area of research and development, with Aston University adjacent to the Aston Science Park, a 9-hectare site with services offices and incubation units. Aston University is relatively small but research intensive and key areas of research include health, nature and effectiveness of organisations, application of leading edge technology, and the global environment. Eastside also falls within the Central Technology Belt. Aston University also includes the Business Partnership Unit, which help to connect businesses and academics in different and innovative ways. Birmingham City University is also developing in Eastside, and the area will be the home of the Digital Media and Performing Arts Academy, close to Millennium Point, which will complement the creative focus that is being developed in this area. Eastside is therefore a natural focus for the development of the Univercity global idea. 6.9.3 Curzon Street Station is a fine Grade I listed building which remains unused and in a poor setting. It needs a new use and an ideas for improving its setting. In addition, Eastside still gives the impression of being separate from the city core, and the buildings do not properly enclose the spaces and streets. This is partly because the road system still has the character of an engineered highway solution rather than a network of city streets. These things will improve as the proposals for Eastside are rolled out. The new City Park is the focus for Eastside and will extend over about 9 hectares from Park Street Gardens through to the Canal at Curzon Street. It will be integrated with all the new surrounding developments and the new pedestrian route network. The park will provide an important link between the city centre and Eastside. The physical design of the park will be subject to detailed consultation at a later date. In addition there are a number of development proposals currently in the pipeline. These include Curzon Gateway, which is under construction, the City Park Gate scheme, which already has planning permission for a mixture of apartments and office space; Curzon Park which is subject to an outline planning permission; Eastside Locks, for which planning permission has been sought; and a masterplan for the Aston University campus. Eastside therefore already has a strong development framework. There are however some options in terms of the future emphasis of development and these are set out below.

6.9.4

6.9.2

6.9.5

6.9.6

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EASTSIDE OPTIONS
EASTSIDE OPTION E1: Eastside as the learning and leisure quarter. The prime focus for Eastside would be to accommodate university expansion, with emphasis on the space needs of the universities, student accommodation, and spin off industries, including leisure uses. EASTSIDE OPTION E2: Eastside as a new office quarter. Eastside would reinforce the eastern end of the linear pattern of office development which extends across the northern side of the city core. This would be a new growth area for large floorplate buildings. Connections with the city core would be improved. This option would make the most of the new city park as a major recreational space for city workers. EASTSIDE OPTION E3: Eastside as a residential quarter. Eastside would be developed with a substantial number of apartments in addition to its academic and business role. EASTSIDE OPTION E4: Eastside as a media and creative quarter. Eastside would host Birminghams largest concentration of media industries.

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DIGBETH
6.10 DIGBETH
6.10.1 The Digbeth / Deritend High Street area was historically a busy area of commercial activity and dwellings on a major through route; and a place where raw materials and water could be found. The historic rail viaducts are a prominent feature, whilst the canal infrastructure is a hidden gem. The River Rea also passes through the area. There is potential to make more of these water features, contributing to the theme of Birmingham as a Water City. 6.10.2 Today the area is characterised by small-scale engineering and metal working with some warehousing. Digbeth also includes the South Birmingham College. There has been significant development in the arts, media and craft industries, including the Custard Factory and the Bond. The wider Digbeth area contains the Irish Quarter with a number of Irish pubs and the prominent Irish Club. Moreover, Digbeth has developed a music and media industry and the area hosts the annual Gigbeth and Supersonic Festivals as well as being home to the superclub Air. Digbeth therefore has the makings of a new creative quarter. 6.10.3 However, Digbeth has limited residential, retail and office development, and a lack of local facilities used by businesses such as ATMs, post offices and sandwich shops. Office floorspace that does exist is usually small scale and related to the industrial and commercial uses within the area. 6.10.4 The area contains Warwick Bar Conservation Area with its range of warehouse complexes and manufactories dating from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, and Digbeth, Deritend and Bordesley High Streets Conservation Area which covers much of what can still be identified as Birminghams medieval townscape and is an area of archaeological significance. However, there is also a good deal of obsolescence and dereliction as well as unkempt left over spaces. As well as the numerous statutory and locally listed buildings, and interesting architectural features such as the viaducts, there are many low-rise warehouses with little architectural merit. The public realm along Digbeth High Street suffered particularly badly from the road widening schemes of the past and the redvelopment that followed in its wake. Much of the public realm within the industrial areas is also poor and deters pedestrians, particularly after dark. 6.10.5 Iconic building though it is, Selfridges and indeed the wider Bull Ring at present seem to turn their back on Digbeth; this impression is reinforced by the scarp slope that separates the area from the citys core, and by the roads that skirt the base of the slope. It is important for the future of Digbeth that good connections are reinstated to the city core, to Eastside, and to Southside. 6.10.6 As with many of the other parts of the city centre, Digbeth is an area that is already undergoing change. Reconstruction of the Birmingham Coach Station has started and there are early designs for Warwick Bar, where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal meets the Digbeth Branch Canal. Planning permission has been granted for Typhoo Wharf and Connaught Square, both of which will comprise a mix of residential, commercial and leisure uses. 6.10.7 It is important to develop a vision for Digbeth and encourage the development of a mix of uses, recognising the potential for the Rea Village, the need to improve the safety and appearance of the public realm and provide better links across Digbeth/Deritend High Street. 6.10.8 However, many of the objectives set out in these documents have not yet been achieved, which gives us the chance to review existing policy and progress it to make sure that Digbeth reaches its full potential. It is important to ensure that the fine grain and industrial character of the area is retained as it is such an important part of Birminghams history. However, we need to explore options for how we can bring out the best of the area through new development.

Digbeth could accommodate more bespoke and playful architecture that enhances its grittyness but makes it a more modern area
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DIGBETH OPTIONS
DIGBETH OPTION D1: Start-up Digbeth. This option would enable Digbeth to evolve as a neighbourhood where business ventures can begin. A significant proportion of the existing building stock would be protected as a way of harbouring creative and start up industries. The character of the area would continue to be derived from the industrial architecture, reusing buildings where possible, keeping the variety of small workshops interspersed with larger warehouses. Refurbishment would be confined to keeping the space operational in order to keep rents down. The streets would remain functional in character and the amount of new residential development under this option would be limited. DIGBETH OPTION D2: Business Digbeth: Digbeth would become a modern city centre business quarter, involving refurbishment of the best buildings and redevelopment of the remainder. The emphasis would be on growing small to medium enterprises including high grade manufacturing, media and services which desire a city centre location. The area would become the focus for international business connected with Birminghams diverse working population and would be supported by a high speed next generation fibre optic network. Residential development would have a lesser role but it could include historic / iconic building conversions, live-work studios and other innovative means of enabling industrial, creative, and residential uses to work together. Improvements to the public realm would be encouraged, particularly along Digbeth High Street and High Street Deritend. This option could involve ring-fencing small areas for creative industries and developing more facilities like the Custard Factory. DIGBETH OPTION D3: Living and working Digbeth: Digbeth would accommodate a significant amount of housing as a result of the redevelopment of some of its poorer industrial areas. The area as a whole would retain distinct areas of housing and employment but there would be an increased emphasis on residential. This might include student housing (if there is a continuing demand for such accommodation; demand is forecast to ease somewhat), which would help to support local activities such as the music scene and other creative industries. This option would bring more people into the area to support its local services. Digbeth would go some way towards contributing towards Birminghams brownfield housing needs.

Providing informal outdoor spaces allows impromtu performances to take place and adds to the variety and life of the city

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7 DELIVERY
7.1.1 The context for delivering development and regeneration projects and new infrastructure will need to be considered from two perspectives: the individual opportunities and their overarching control and co-ordination. The 800 hectare land area is substantial, but changes will not take-place in a vacuum. The city centre has already undergone substantial change and new projects are being progressed; some are on-site, others at the planning and preparation stages. The projects that have been completed over the past 20 years have created a significant momentum and confidence in the ability of the city to adapt and meet new challenges. The city has also evolved a desire to look beyond the immediate challenges and competition of the UK economy and other UK cities and embrace the opportunities of competing on both European and World stages. The Big City Plan will set out an ambitious series of projects, infrastructure and opportunities for new investment. The City Council will have a significant role to play in leadership that will underpin the successful delivery of the objectives. However, it will also seek to secure financial and expert input from other government organisations including Advantage West Midlands and the new Homes and Communities Agency (commencing in 2009 this new Agency is a merger between the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships). The private sector will also have a substantial role to play in the delivery of individual projects, combining development, financial and entrepreneurial skills. The overall approach to delivery should blend the strengths of the public and private sectors to achieve the best solutions in terms of quality, style, mix, movement and sense of place. 7.1.6 A key element of the approach to delivering this complex Plan will be to not only create a robust and clear planning basis, but also to recognise the need for flexibility of decision-making throughout the delivery and implementation timescales. Such flexibility will be vital for projects to adapt and adjust to changing property market, economic and financial conditions. It will also be necessary to be able to accommodate changing trends and lifestyles over the delivery period and embrace the opportunity for new approaches, building forms and styles, construction and environmental standards etc to come to the fore. Individual development and infrastructure projects will have the potential to be delivered in a number of different ways. The delivery structure that is best suited to each individual opportunity will need to be established and agreed. The timing of works will require careful co-ordination to ensure the city remains fully operational and construction traffic, noise and other development challenges are managed carefully.

7.1.2

7.1.7

7.1.3

7.1.4

7.1.5

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8 NEXT STEPS
8.1.1 This report has set out the key issues that we need to tackle if Birmingham is to make major advances on the local, regional, national and global stage and massively improve its liveability. There is now a genuine public appetite to see change in Birmingham and to do what is needed to get the Big City Plan approved and to put it into practice as soon as possible. 8.1.2 We value your views on the issues and options identied in this report and look forward to receiving them. They will help us to full our vision for Birminghams city centre, so it is really important that we hear from you. If you would like to meet the Big City Plan team then come along to our consultation events. Your views will be used in preparing the next stage of the Big City Plan which you will also be able to comment on. This will be signed off by the Council and will form the basis of our nal submission to Government. Should you need any further information please contact us using the details provided inside the front cover of this document.

8.1.3 8.1.4

8.1.5

EVERY CITY NEEDS TO BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO CREATE ITS OWN URGENCY, ITS OWN MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB

All maps within this document are reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majestys Stationery Ofce Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or Civil proceedings. Birmingham City Council. Licence No. 100021326, 2008
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