The Jewellery Quarter (for a larger version click on the map)

The Jewellery Quarter has many high quality buildings set in a very industrial area. It is protected by a conservation area and is a potential candidate as a World Heritage site.

Specialist jewellery makers, designers and shops still exist in the quarter.  Now though they work alongside  a growing entertainment, commercial and professional business sector in the area around St Paul’s Square, a neighbourhood we consider the centrepiece of the historic environment in the Jewellery Quarter.

This part of Birmingham wasn’t always about industry. The first buildings there were homes. These started to change as small businesses converting bedrooms into workshops.  Buildings containing both houses and workshops are now rare, although one example is 27-32 Mary Street. Today the character of the area is shaped by purpose built factories and workshops from the 19th Century. Fringe central activities (sorry the previous phrase is tricky to translate) occupy land by Great Charles Street/Queensway.  There are more modest offices and some residential developments next to  St. Paul’s Square and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. The only open spaces are Key Hill Cemetery and the Church of England Cemetery on Warstone Lane.

You only need to look out from the Jewellery Quarter to see just how close it is to the core part of the the city centre. However getting there can be a problem. For example: Church Street traditionally linked  St Paul’s Church to St Philips Cathedral but is now cut  by the Queensway.

So this plan should find ways to make it easier for people to travel between the Jewellery Quarter and the core of the city centre. We may find that redevelopment of some major sites presents an opportunity to make it easier for people to walk. The Metro Line 1 runs through the Jewellery Quarter and provides a connection from Snow Hill to Wolverhampton whilst a railway line also runs through the quarter from Snow Hill to Stourbridge and Solihull.

We think the Jewellery Quarter is generally considered a success, but there are still many empty and under used buildings.  Developers have been keen to build homes and  buildings which are used as homes and offices on the less historic industrial fringe, but in the more traditional parts of the quarter there are tensions. Here the Council’s current policy stops developers buildings homes.  It is a policy designed to protect the historic core as a place for factories, workshops and business. The Big City Plan should take another look at the planning policy for 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  proposals, including a new development around Carver Street, Camden Street and Pope Street and the future of sites on Great Charles Queensway are also being discussed.  The existing Unitary Development Plan (you can find the whole document it through this link, the section on the Jewellery Quarter is here.) includes a proposal to create an urban village which will provide for a mixture of small businesses and new homes.

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