6.10 Digbeth
Plain English Version
The main Digbeth High Street area used to be a busy through road to the city centre and beyond. It was lined with shops and businesses. The old railway viaducts dominate the area. The local canalways and River Rea, which runs through Digbeth, are hidden from view. These could be used to develop Birmingham as a ‘WATER CITY’.
Today Digbeth’s main features are:
- Small-scale engineering and metal-working, with warehouse buildings.
- South Birmingham College’s Digbeth Campus on the High Street.
- Arts, media and craft industries. Many of these trade from the Custard Factory and The Bond, who rent studio and office space to small businesses.
- Irish Quarter – there are many local Irish pubs and the Birmingham Irish Club on the High Street.
- Home to Gigbeth and Supersonic music festivals.
- Air ’superclub’ and other music clubs.
Digbeth therefore has the makings of a new creative quarter.
However, Digbeth lacks residential, retail and office space. It lacks the facilities businesses need such as ATM’s, Post Offices and sandwich shops. There is some small-scale office space available but this caters to the engineering and creative industries already in Digbeth. It is too inflexible to attract other sectors.
Digbeth contains two conservation areas:
- Warwick Bar industrial area has Victorian and Edwardian warehouses and factories.
- Digbeth/Deritend/Bordesley High Streets Medieval Conservation Area dates back to medieval times and is of interest to archaeologists.
However, a lot of these areas can’t be used at the moment. Both of them are quite run-down with abandoned and derelict buildings and untidy spaces. There are a few listed buildings and interesting features like the viaducts, but there are also many ugly, low-rise warehouses. Digbeth High Street was widened to create a busy main through road. This makes Digbeth difficult for people to walk through, which makes it empty and bad for business. The industrial areas seem empty and unfriendly and do not attract people, especially after dark.
Selfridges and the Bullring shopping centre turn their backs onto the High Street, creating a wall between Digbeth and the city centre. This is reinforced by the busy road around them. Digbeth needs to seem better connected to the rest of the city and the centre rather than cut off.
Digbeth is already changing. Birmingham Coach Station is being rebuilt. There are plans for Warwick Bar (where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal meets the Digbeth Branch Canal) and planning permission has been granted for Typhoo Wharf and Connaught Square. Both will have a mixture of homes, businesses and leisure facilities.
Digbeth has a lot of potential. We must be open-minded about how Digbeth can develop and we need a clear vision for its future. We need to improve the safety and appearance of the streets and provide better links across the main High Street.
It is important to keep the existing historical, industrial character of the area but we must not ignore options that might improve Digbeth. We want Digbeth to reach its full potential.
Original Document
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”.
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.
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 floor-space that does exist is usually small scale and related to the industrial and commercial uses within the area.
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 Birmingham’s 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 redevelopment that followed in its wake. Much of the public realm within the industrial areas is also poor and deters pedestrians, particularly after dark.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 city’s 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.
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.
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.
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 Birmingham’s history. However, we need to explore options for how we can bring out the best of the area through new development.
Digbeth (Popup full image)