In the second of his two-part insight into the history of the city’s buildings, Matthew Goer of Associated Architects, looks at the major projects that shaped Birmingham since the Second World War.

1950s

Birmingham Ring Road

During the Second World War, the city was hit hard during the Birmingham Blitz and was ripe for a radical reconstruction. Herbert Manzoni, City Surveyor of Birmingham and visionary engineer, took stock of the destruction and the anticipated growth of car ownership following the war. In his city-wide reconstruction plan he envisaged a wide, sweeping boulevard lined with pavements and arcades of shops, running around the city centre. His plans were bold and forward-thinking; ground-breaking in engineering terms, taking influences from major cities around the world.

Manzoni held no sentiment towards the buildings of the past and tore through historic parts of the city, with a vision of improving Birmingham for future generations. This was before the days of building conservation and resulted in the loss of many much-loved Victorian buildings, such as the Central Library.

Construction of the first section of Manzoni’s inner ring road began at Smallbrook Queensway in 1957, a sweeping boulevard from Suffolk Street to New Street Station. However, Manzoni’s original concept was abandoned after a visit to the freeways of Los Angeles and, coupled with outside political influence, the remaining ring-road became the urban motorway that we see in parts running through the city today, with complete separation of car and pedestrian. The entire ring road was officially opened by the Queen in 1971.

Far from opening up the city, Manzoni inadvertently created the city’s restrictive and much-maligned ‘concrete collar’, which stifled development and pedestrian connectivity until it was broken most notably in 2003 with the demolition of Masshouse Circus.

1960s

The Bull Ring

At the head of Digbeth High Street stands St Martin’s Church in an area that has held a special significance within Birmingham’s history as the centre of the city’s markets since the 12th century. It was natural that the location was chosen by the Victorians as the site of the city’s first official centralised market in the 19th century.

With the contemporary city council keen to construct an iconic building in the heart of the city, it was decided that this would be the location for the Bull Ring, the UK’s first city-centre indoor shopping centre.

Completed in 1964, the Bull Ring was a striking modernist building, with its iconic Bull insignia, illuminated advertising and bold signage. It embodied the ideals of its era and represented Birmingham reinventing itself as a modern city. Unfortunately, it was also an example of short-sighted town planning without any contextual thinking. The pedestrian was subservient to the car; approaching the building on foot required the navigation of a convoluted network of underpasses and bridges.

Like many 1960s buildings, the Bull Ring failed to meet the test of time. Its stark concrete façade and complex pedestrian access routes deterred shoppers, while failing technology and the prohibitive rental cost of retail space led many tenants to find cheaper accommodation elsewhere in the city.

Far from being the iconic centrepiece that was originally hoped, the Bull Ring became an example to many of Birmingham as a grey concrete jungle, chocked by roads and motorways. Less than 20 years after it was opened, redevelopment designs were already being drawn-up.

1970s

Central Library

Since the growth of the industrial city, the public library has been a key component of the Victorian city’s civic and cultural heart. Birmingham was no exception with its dramatic Central Library, designed by architect John Henry Chamberlain.

However this Central Library, was demolished in 1974 to make way for Manzoni’s route for the Inner Ring-Road and the political will to build a modern library. Architect John Madin, was commissioned to design its replacement.

Madin’s Central Library was conceived as the centrepiece of what would become an ambitious civic centre – including an exhibition space, lecture halls, drama centre and athletics institute, as well as a major transport hub. Due primarily to funding cuts, this vision was never fully realised.

Original proposals to clad the building in either Portland Stone or Travertine marble, which would have softened the library’s appearance and aligned it with other civic buildings in the area, were passed over due to funding issues, in favour of pre-cast concrete panels.

As an example of the Brutalist architectural style, the building has polarised many in the city with some striving to have it protected. With the construction of the dramatic new Library of Birmingham in Centenary Square, the Central Library will be demolished to facilitate the Paradise Circus redevelopment.

1980s

Nelson Mandela Community Primary School, Sparkbrook

As population demands grew, architects faced challenges to meet the ever increasing pressures on the city’s schools. In areas such as Sparkbrook where, for a high proportion of the population, English is not first language, bilingual interpreters became commonplace in schools and the reading age was often significantly lower than national average. This called for a rethink of teaching methods.

Nelson Mandela Community Primary School is a quietly understated building in the heart of Sparkbrook, which sought to address these new cultural and educational challenges.

Designed by Will Howland of Birmingham City Architects, the design replaced traditional classrooms with flexible spaces, facilitated by sliding doors and screens. It was designed around the needs of children and the community and became an out of school community resource. It challenged the traditional model of school design with an ‘access all areas’ approach rather than imposing restrictions. The intention was to break down barriers and makes the school a welcoming place.

The design followed an emerging trend in primary school architecture of single storey, pitched roofed buildings, built at a domestic, child friendly scale. In contrast to the formal, imposing civic structures of schools of the past, this created a relaxed home-like environment. The school was opened by Rev. Desmond Tutu in 1987 and visited by Nelson Mandela in 1993.

1990s

Brindleyplace

At the height of Birmingham’s industrial past, the canalside areas were dominated by industrial buildings, with direct transport links across the country. However by the 1970s, manufacturing went into decline and many of the buildings began to fall derelict.

Brindleyplace, between Broad Street and the Birmingham Canal Navigation is an internationally renowned regeneration project, which was commenced in 1993 by developer Argent. Masterplanned by architect John Chatwin, Brindleyplace is a new city quarter designed around people, conceived as a collection of mixed use buildings, mainly offices, built around a network of interconnected streets, some of which follow the original Victorian ones, and three public squares. The traditional red brick Victorian school was retained and converted to the home of the IKON gallery. The Masterplan also used the canal frontages as a positive, locating bars and restaurants overlooking the water.

By positively addressing the canal network, Brindleyplace reinvigorated what had for a long time been one of Birmingham’s neglected assets. Brummies discovered that they liked being by the water and decided that the city centre could be a place for living in too. Symphony Court at Brindleyplace was the first city centre private residential development since the early 1800s.

While the buildings that make up Brindleyplace were designed by different architects, they follow a common language of materials and proportions which helps to promote a sense of homogeneity.

2000s

The Bullring

Some people might cry foul at our inclusion of the Bullring twice, however this reincarnation (note the removal of the space between the two words) is markedly different from the 1960s original and has had such an impact on the city that we felt that it deserved its own entry.

Problems with the original Bull Ring, combined with an increasing sense of negative public sentiment, led to a number of redevelopment proposals being submitted in the years following its completion. The final accepted design, drawn up by global retail architect Benoy in the mid-1990s, incorporated a number of key innovations, both aesthetically and in the use of the space. The sheer number of feature developments within the Bullring is startling, including the 15,000 aluminium discs that cover the exterior of the Selfridges building, the 37ft long curved Parametric Bridge that connects the centre to the multi-storey car park, and the 75,000 sq ft Skyplane, the frameless glass roof that stretches from one side of the building to the other.

The design is a successful exercise in urban design, creating greater pedestrian connections to the markets, New Street and High Street. Although it may not be described as a respectful neighbour, it tactfully frames the view of St Martin’s Church on the approach from New Street.

Although the Bullring is a major attraction to the city, its private indoor streets rather than public spaces do not encourage people to explore other parts of the city and retail in the city centre is suffering as a result.

2010s

New Street Station

The redevelopment of railway stations in major cities, such as Manchester Piccadilly, aimed to provide a genuine sense of arrival and a sense of the wider city for travellers disembarking from services all over the UK.

New Street Station, rather than being a terminus, is the busiest interchange station in the UK and is consistently described as an unpleasant way of arriving into Birmingham.

The on-going refurbishment known as the Gateway Project will provide this sense of arrival, while the new flagship John Lewis store and Grand Central – the reinvigorated Pallasades shopping centre – will provide a focus for shoppers. Although the project has made slow progress, not a single train has been cancelled as a result of the construction works and the station has remained fully operational. The success is down to modern construction techniques and is to the credit of the strategic project management.

As with the Bullring, the revitalisation and extension of the retail offer may well have a consequential negative impact on the traditional heart of retail in Birmingham.

New Street Station will also have an impact on other adjoining parts of the city, with neglected areas such as John Bright Street and Stephenson Street seeing increased footfall, which should bring improved investment opportunities and regeneration as a result.

While we won’t get to see the station’s new atrium until the official opening in 2015, the exterior cladding is already being put into place and by April of this year, we should have reached the halfway stage in the construction process, with commuters hopefully starting to see a difference.

The fact that all of this is going on while the station is still live, with a train leaving every 37 seconds, makes it all the more spectacular.

The future of the city looks bright, with many significant projects bringing jobs and opportunities in the coming years.

We can be sure that Birmingham will continue to surprise – and perhaps delight – its businesses, citizens and developers alike and, who knows, even confound its critics through adventurous and free-spirited design.