January
● Construction giant Carillion collapses
There was only one story which dominated the headlines in January - and continues to cause ripples as we approach the end of the year.
The collapse of Wolverhampton-based construction and infrastructure giant Carillion at the turn of the year showed that no company is too big to fail.
Its major projects in this region were the first office building at Paradise, in Birmingham city centre, and the Midland Metropolitan Hospital, in Sandwell.
It was also part of a team working on the some of the new HS2 tunnels.
Work on the office block and hospital has since resumed but not without a lot of headaches along the way for those left carrying the can from Carillion's demise.
● Symphony Hall to get a £12m re-vamp
Birmingham's world-famous Symphony Hall venue announced it was planning a £12 million overhaul of its foyer and public areas.
The venue appointed Glasgow-based Page\Park Architects to spearhead the redesign which will open the building out onto Centenary Square.
Symphony Hall opened in 1991 and is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and plays host to a broad variety of live acts including classical music, pop stars and stand up comedians.
Its chief executive Nick Reed said at the time the scheme would finally give the venue the foyers and public spaces to match its world-class auditorium.
● Designs unveiled for memorial to Tunisia terrorism victims
Designs were unveiled this month for a new memorial in Birmingham to the victims of two terrorist attacks which took place in Tunisia in 2015.
The £750,000 project will see the memorial erected in Cannon Hill Park to remember victims of the attacks in Tunis and Sousse.
The centrepiece will be a sculpture titled 'Infinite Wave' which the architecture firm behind the project said "recreated a single wave formed from 31 individual streams", each one representing the British nationals who lost their lives.
Three militants attacked the Bardo National Museum, in the Tunisian capital Tunis, in March 2015 and killed 22 people.
Three months later a single gunman killed 38 holidaymakers, including 30 British nationals, in the Port El Kantaoui resort, outside Sousse.
● Patients forced to wait in ambulances outside hospitals
It emerged in January that hundreds of patients were forced to wait outside over-crowded West Midlands hospitals in ambulances over the Christmas period.
Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust said there were more than 200 cases of patients waiting to be admitted during one seven-day period while Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust recorded 344 cases of patients waiting between 30 minutes and an hour.
Prime Minister Theresa May also admitted it had been necessary to cancel thousands of operations.
Health bosses said the NHS was facing a crisis, with Janet Davies, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, saying hospitals in England were at bursting point over the 2017 festive period.
February
● Design teams chosen for HS2 stations
Architecture practices which worked on the Eden Project and Gateshead Millennium Bridge were named among new design teams to deliver the HS2 stations in Birmingham and Solihull in February.
Grimshaw and Wilkinson Eyre, both of which are based in London, are part of a group of designers and engineers to lead construction of the new stations in the city centre and near the airport.
Other projects completed by members of the teams include Bijlmer Arena station in the Netherlands and the refurbishment of King's Cross station in London.
The first artist's impressions of the two stations were revealed in October when HS2 started its formal public consultation on the designs.
● Police station sell-off to save £5m a year
West Midlands Police announced it would be selling off 24 buildings - including two police stations open to the public - to save money for investment into frontline officers.
The majority of the stations on the list had already been closed to the public and just housed space for support staff and officers.
Only two on the for sale list, Sutton Coldfield and Solihull stations, were currently open to the public at the time of the announcement.
Police commissioner David Jamieson was quick to reassure residents the force would retain the current level of ten police stations open to the public across the region.
● £1.7m lifeline for 'at risk' community building
A listed building considered at risk for 20 years was handed a £1.7 million lifeline so it could be transformed into a community centre and business hub.
The former Moseley School of Art, in Balsall Heath, opened in 1901 and was run as an art school for 76 years, counting Pop Art co-founder Peter Phillips, UB40 singer Ali Campbell and Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie among its alumni.
Now known as Moseley Community Centre, the decaying grade II*-listed building was poised to undergo a life-saving makeover courtesy of the £1.7 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The capital was earmarked for a full refurbishment, including a ground floor gallery to exhibit work by local artists and a permanent display charting the history of the building and some of its former pupils.
● Council backtracks on £70 council tax increase
In a rare moment of people power, Birmingham City Council announced this month it would cut its planned council tax rise after residents said they were sick of inflation-busting increases.
The Labour-led authority launched a consultation in December 2017 about plans to increase bills by £71.90 for a band D property, an increase of just under five per cent.
But council leader Ian Ward said it had now been decided to limit the increase to just under four per cent - around £57.49 a year.
"The reaction we've got back is that people are becoming more concerned about council tax increases in recent years being not only above inflation but also being carried out at a time when people have had pay increases well below the rate of inflation, if they've had one at all," he said.
