Plain English Version
The Core is the area that most people understand as the city centre. It is the area that visitors see most of. Visitors want good quality shops, leisure facilities and transport links, so they will be quick to notice any problems. National and international businesses are looking for high quality new accommodation. They want to be somewhere that is attractive, good for business, and has a rich mix of culture. These things will help us make Birmingham a place that the rest of the world takes seriously, and that people want to invest money in. We want Birmingham to be a place that people are proud of, and where people want to live. The core of the city is important to the success of this.
The Core has always been, and still is, the main area of Birmingham for making money. It has top quality offices, as well as a large choice of shops and restaurants. It also has the main shopping areas (New Street, Bullring and the High Street). It is home to Birmingham New Street railway station, which is a key point of arrival into Birmingham. The station is the main public transport hub in the city.
The Core is dense with buildings. It has been building up over time, making good use of the land. The streets are well laid out, and well enclosing. The Core has a strong history, and includes many post-war and modern developments. This mixture emphasises the historic environment. We are protecting a lot of this already by making ‘conservation areas’, which helps us to keep their character and appearance. The Core has several landmark buildings. The most notable of these are the Bullring, the Rotunda, the Council House, the Museum and Art Gallery and the Town Hall.
Many of the buildings in the Core are listed, ten of these being Grade One. The centrepiece space is St. Philip’s Churchyard. This is a successful and attractive open space next to the Cathedral. It has a clear and well-enclosed link for pedestrians to Victoria Square. Looking over Victoria Square is The Town Hall and the Council House, which are both impressive listed buildings. Colmore Row, and the surrounding area, has a fine collection of attractive buildings. The series of connected, open spaces carries on past Victoria Square. It continues into Chamberlain Square. It then goes through Paradise Forum, and alongside the library, into Centenary Square. These open spaces join together, and are great for walking.
Much of the area to the north-east area of the cathedral is in the Steelhouse Conservation Area. The Victorian Law Courts are here. Their building is listed Grade One. This area also has many other listed buildings, both Grade One and Grade Two. The Children’s Hospital is in this conservation area too. It is Locally Listed.
It is not easy to walk around the area of New Street Station, or towards the Jewellery Quarter. It gets very crowded in some places. There is also significant bus congestion.
The Core is now too small for a city the size of Birmingham. Some of the good parts have grown, because we got rid of the worst parts of Queensway. We could expand these even more (see Figure 5.2).
Some parts of the Core are already going to be developed. Proposals for these are in the advanced stages of the planning process. These include the Natwest Tower and the area around Snow Hill Station. There are other developments, from the 1950s to the 1980s, which do not help the area. We may focus on these at a later date.
The Core will still be the main area for Grade ‘A’ (highest quality) offices in Birmingham. However, we want to add variety to the city centre. Therefore we should also look outside the Core for new office development.
Large numbers of visitors come to Birmingham. We want to make their first impressions better. We have a great opportunity to do this if we redevelop New Street Station. It also gives us a chance to change the whole area and make it better, and to open up Southside.
Until now, these development proposals have been guided by our Unitary Development Plan (UDP). But some parts of the UDP are out of date. For example, the Bullring is finished; so is phase one of Martineau Galleries. The UDP seeks to protect these developments by preventing others. They are both finished, so this does not matter any more.
However, the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy says that a large amount of money will be available for new retail development. We want to use a lot of this on the city centre. But where should this new development happen? Should it be in the core, or in the areas just around the core (such as Southside or Westside)? (This is different to what is in the Unitary Development Plan.) We want to make retail in Birmingham more vibrant, and to stop shops and other buildings being empty. To do this we must encourage a wider range of uses in some retail areas.
Original Document
;p id="copy_511290_ID_1">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.
There are numerous buildings that are statutorily listed, including ten Grade I listed buildings. The centrepiece space is St. Philip’s 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 Philip’s 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 Children’s 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.
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.
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.
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.
