The transformation of Birmingham City Centre

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Birmingham’s new development pipeline is growing, providing progressive and vibrant working, living and shopping spaces. One look at the skyline demonstrates just how much property development in the city has evolved over the last decade, and how much Birmingham has transformed. This rapid regeneration and transformation has laid the foundations amply for further growth to come.
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[@deu8894]

Birmingham is now due for much taller buildings like we now see in London and even Manchester

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

Yes it is, but it already has loads of tall buildings in the City Centre,not as many as London, but as many as Manchester.

[@lordgemini2376]

@@peterwilliamallen1063 Definitely nowhere near the amount as Manchester

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@lordgemini2376 I think you need to look again at the Birmingham Sky line mate in person from the M6 going through spaghetti Junction, I have been personally to Manchester and I found it rather flat compared to Birmingham. Looking just at these videos do not give you the correct perspective in 3 mins in one area, for a start we have two of the tallest blocks of flats in Europe next to Beecham Tower in the Horse fair area of the City, the BT Tower, The Rotunda, to name a few, so before making comparisons I suggest you come and look a Brum personally.

[@Mohammed.Kumar83]

@@peterwilliamallen1063 I'm afraid you're mistaken. A quick look on wikipedia and you'll see Manchester has far more tall buildings than Birmingham. B'ham's BT Tower is by far its tallest building; however, it would only be the 5th tallest building if it was in Manchester. Manchester also has over 30 buildings (100m +) either under construction or in planning. B'ham has around half this amount. Tallest buildings in Birmingham: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_and_structures_in_Birmingham Tallest buildings in Manchester: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_and_structures_in_Greater_Manchester From an unbiased Sydneysider.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@Mohammed.Kumar83 Your findings are like Wikipedia based mainly on Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester is a Combined Authority with a Mayor that looks after the old area of South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire set up in the 1970's, like the West Midlands combined authority, if you read Wikipedia, it only states Greater Manchester's total, this is not the City of Manchester, they are two different things, where as Birmingham's total is only based on the Cities total not the West Midlands total, getting a bit petty now. Not sure what is wrong with you Northerners in Manchester you seem a bit peed off with life, why is you lot always class Greater Manchester as Manchester, Manchester is a Stand alone City, where as Greater Manchester cover other large towns and Cities such as Stockport, Hyde etc etc so is not Manchester so a lot f these buildings are not actually in the City of Manchester but Greater Manchester, where as the building count in Birmingham is that for Birmingham alone, plus I have seen a video of Manchester's City Centre and it is very flat compared to the amount of High rise buildings that are in Birmingham's City Centre.

[@davidsivills3599]

Birmingham is lacking skyscrapers,a cluster in the city would look great.

[@dantesinferno1093]

I've always wondered why Birmingham lacks so much ambition in this regard. For the second biggest city in the UK and one that it likes to boast about, it's lack of a skyline is pitiful. I know things have changed a bit in recent years with the redevelopment of New Street but even then, thr city's development is outshone by Manchester. Even Leeds has more to show than Brum. Birmingham relies on its size of the city to talk itself up whereas Manchester has world class football clubs, world class sporting facilities, the country's biggest media hub outside London, a world class nightlife and a skyline to top it off. Birmingham's tallest building is some communications tower from the freaking 50s or something. If it's excuse of quality tall buildings is hindered by protecting some ancient or Victorian buildings then I'd understand but it's not like Birmingham is awash with such architecture. Birmingham City centre is so underwhelming compared to Manchester.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@dantesinferno1093 Well dantes inferno you haven't seen the sky line of Brum, if you look at from a distance from Spaghetti Junction on the M6 or from the Lickey Hills you will see Birmingham's magnificent skyline, before commenting on Birmingham i suggest you come and look at it, I have been to Manchester and I live in Birmingham and you will find Birmingham is a mixture of lovely Victorian Architecture and very modern tall buildings and 2 large modern Shopping Malls, the World Famous Bull ring Centre and Grand central, the busiest station outside the London area, Birmingham New Street, Centenary square and 35 miles of canals, more than Amsterdam and Venice, world class night life, 3 Michelin Star restaurants the most out side London, Now the TV Media is moving to Birmingham, HS2 opening, the Common Wealth games in 2022, Cadbury World, the Largest Primark store in the world, 3 world class football teams , Aston Villa, Birmingham city and West Bromwich Albion, Top Cricket at the Warwickshire Cricket ground, the BT Tower was built in the late sixties to transmit radio telecommunications from the London BT Tower up the country via another tower on Cannock chase so you lot up North had perfect telecommunications, yes Birmingham is a thourghley modern city of both high rise and historical buildings that for gods sake totally out shines grubby Leeds and even Manchester by a far shot, and for the Title of " The Second / largest city in UK2 this is backed up by the government and it's population of 1.5 million citizens compared to the City of Manchester's ( Not Greater Manchester ) 560,000 population and 8th in size after Leeds. since the rebuilding of the City Of Birmingham it is now a beautiful modern City Centre,

[@esteelintz6177]

​@@peterwilliamallen1063 as a Brummie myself, i can safely say there's nowhere near the same scale of tall buildings compared with Manchester. No idea about Leeds though. Also, our football teams definitely aren't world class. West Brom (who just got relegated)?? ...And Birmingham City??? Are you kidding! 😆 Maybe try focusing on our [genuinely] world class Engineering, Health and Manufacturing sectors if you actually want to try impressing anyone hahaha!!

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@esteelintz6177 I think again you are mistaking buildings in Greater Manchester Metro Area and the City of Manchester, it is like joining the City of Birmingham with the West Midlands metropolitan Area, if you look at Wikipedia, the number of tall building count is taken for the Greater Manchester area, not the City of Manchester, yet the count of Buildings for Birmingham is done on the amount of high rise buildings in Birmingham alone not the West Midlands. In Birmingham there are at present 6 buildings over 100 mtrs tall, 19 buildings over 90 mtrs tall and 37 buildings over 60 Mtrs tall plus various tall buildings at various heights after that, neither are Manchester's, Manchester United is crap since Alex Fergusson retired and is a bit of a bother over this super league, Aston Villa is definitely World class with History. As a proud Brummie which I am, take some advice be proud of the Second largest City in the UK and be positive, try looking into Birmingham instead of the negative side you would be surprised, for example, 1/ Cadbury World, 2/ HQ of the Sea World Organisation . 3/ Biggest Primark in the UK 4/ The world famous Bull Ring Centre, when opened in the early 1960's a copy of a USA Shopping Mall, it was the biggest in Europe and today is combined with the Grand Central Shopping Mall making them one of the biggest shopping malls under one roof in the UK. 5/ 3 Michelin Star Restaurants the largest amount out side London. 6/ More Canals than Venice or Amsterdam 7/ World Famous Art Gallery and Museum. 8/ New Street Station, the busiest Station outside the London Area 9/ Home of HS2 10/ The new home of HSBC's head offices 11/ The home of JLR 12/Two of the largest parks in the UK Sutton Park and Cannon Hill Park 13/ Home of the UK's largest Police Force, the " West Midlands Police" 14/ It is where JR Tolkien spent his youth and came up with his book Lord of the Rings based on Moseley Bog and Sarehole Mill 15/ It is the place where Birds Custard was invented 16/ it was the place where HP Sauce was invented 17/ It was where the industrial revolution was begun in Soho Birmingham by James Watt and Mathew Boulton 18/ Birmingham has the second largest population in the UK after London, standing at around 1.5 million Citizens making it the UK's second largest City 19/ Home of the Warwickshire Cricket Ground in Edgebaston 20/ Home of the Largest Public lending Library in Europe which houses the largest collection of Shakespeare Plays 21/home of the world famous Jewellery quarter. 22/ In 2022 the home of the Common Wealth Games I could go on but it is getting monotonous listing all the pluses of my great City of Birmingham, I just laugh at our Northern friends as they can not take the fact that although a lot of visitors go to Manchester, it only to see Old Trafford which is not actually with in the City of Manchester's Boundary. so living in Birmingham since the 60's yes I know a lot about Birmingham being interested in it's History.

[@alexishinck6918]

​@@peterwilliamallen1063 you said it's not fair for Manchester to take credit for Greater Manchester, but then here you are claiming JLR (which is based in Coventry) hahahaha Most the "points" which you're awarding to Birmingham are very pointless/incorrect btw: - The Bull Ring - you literally said yourself that it's a rip off of an American Mall. Also, it's still smaller than the Trafford Centre in Manchester. - more canals than Amsterdam? - a quick Google search will instantly prove this wrong - The Industrial Revolution started in Manchester, not Birmingham. Google it. - Comparing populations by city boundaries is misleading. That means London's population is only about 2000! - "The new home of HSBC's head offices" ..............that's just a straight-up lie. They opened an office there for call centre staff, but the global headquarters is in London. - biggest Primark in the UK?? - Seems like you're scraping the barrel here!

[@raisedbyrabbitsraisedbyrab6553]

And it's closer to Oxford and Stonehenge than Manchester...

[@henrytudor8537]

If the economic output is really £38billion then it is incredibly poor.

[@bullringbirminghamnostalgi2527]

You think back to how far we have come over 21 years since 2000 with all of this redevelopment and investment that has been ploughed in and it’s amazing. As a person born and bread in Brum since 1977 it’s hard to take in at times.

[@kevinworrall231]

Manchester's catching up

[@jerryn8520]

it's not a competition

[@brianmarshall4753]

Birmingham city centre is the second largest city such as business district nightlife and the shopping district such as the bull ring centre Broad street now it a entertainment area of bar restaurant and club arena central a office block bar and restaurant area on Broad street on the former central television studio finally paradise complex of bar restaurant and office block it will link up metro tram and HS2 station in Birmingham

[@JP-wj2cz]

I was thinking the same thing. For a city it's size, it needs more high density buildings.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

well if you actually look at various clips of Birmingham City Center you will see the following; At 0:48 the shot shows 12 high rise buildings At 1:59 the shot shows 14 high rise buildings At 2:03 the shot shows 18 high rise buildings As the drone flies around panning out pictures of the City different views appear showing the high Rise Buildings in Birmingham and as the drone is pretty high up these buildings seem smaller than they actually are due to height and distance from these Buildings and since these shots were taken more high rise buildings have been completed in the City Center plus 5 new skyscraper's are in various states of building in 2922

[@hareshgill8994]

@@peterwilliamallen1063 but we need a skyline like london

[@davem9208]

With regards you saying the city needs higher density building, it has just been announced by Birmingham City Council, that , over the next 20 years, they are going to spend £2.2 bn on flattening the Ladywood estate, which borders on to the city centre, and totally rebuild it, increasing the population of the area four fold. Taking the current est. 7000 residents to over 25 000, and they say they intend to build up, not out. They intend to build and develop on all the parkland on the estate, so virtually no greenery anymore..Just concrete. Welcome back to the post WW2 nightmare of flats.

[@hareshgill8994]

@@davem9208 by thy I mean like offices, hotels, ect not bloody flats Birmingham has many of those Birmingham also needs more houses

[@davem9208]

I see that in the city centre, there is a development underway called the Octogan Residential Building, planned at 155m high, with 47 floors, but it seems all apartments and no trade. A main selling point of it seems to be all round, equal view from any window on any floor, but looking at the images, based on other nearby planned developments, were you to be on the south or south east side, up to about the 15th floor, you would be right up against other buildings planned to be nearby. Possibly not the best of adverts for it. I have often driven past this building site, unaware of what it was. So the next time I go up Great Charles St, I might pay more attention to it. @@hareshgill8994

[@S_H_A_R_N_I_E]

What's sad is there are so many new things bring built but almost all have no character and aren't even that tall. The only new building worth mentioning is the Octagon. City planners need to repurpose so many old areas that are run down in the city centre, such as the area across the road from the HS2 construction on the Moor Street. Also, the whole of King's Street. And not to mention the godforsaken Lancaster 1 building.

[@jadasmith1977]

Birmingham years ago was a shithole and run down and ugly it's suffered years of cuts and austerity no seen as a attractive city areas are very run down and grey still even today, Birmingham city council is very lazy and run the city down go to parts of city centre and outskirts and see how ugly and run down places are . Birmingham and West Midlands has a lot of racism and segregation too people are in denial of it key factors are poverty and unemployment which has been a issue for decades austerity and cuts .

[@dw9524]

I agree, i think the younger generations will help fix the racism problem, but the city is so ugly and it saddens me how it's in prime position to become a modern green city of the future that still pays homage to it's victorian, industrial, brutalist and immigrant roots, but it just doesn't. Nobody will ever come here because it's not pretty. why come to brum when literally anywhere else is better and actually has culture

[@sarribel]

Goldman sachs is the last big fish caught by the ever growing brum

[@paulhanson5164]

Why does everybody keep obsessing over tall buildings ? The best new parts of Birmingham are not tall, Oozells Square and Brindley Place, the way they've redeveloped Chamberlain Square and Centenary Square, the pedestrianised areas, old buildings spruced up. I hope somebody does something with the old Law Courts on Corporation Street and the buildings around it, the architecture down there is stunning, better than any high rise. Its a part of town long overdue a new lease of life.

[@rickyvintagetv7725]

Very true, I love this city, and I'm going to be someone very known in BIRMINGHAM

[@jamesbovington8218]

Where is the metro system?

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

You saw it in the video, at 2.17. It runs from Centenary square, through the City Centre and out to wolverhampton

[@londoneye2653]

No metro lol only tram and its just one way from Bimringham to Wolverhamton Horrible public transport

[@jamesbovington8218]

@@londoneye2653 I am Leeds born and bred and it's a pretty ghastly city but I always tell myself that Birmingham is a thousand times worse. The only really interesting British provincial city is Glasgow and they voted leave in 2014.

[@peterfeltham5612]

Somehow the words Birmingham and Paradise make for uneasy bedfellows in the same sentence.Rather like saying Politician and Integrity or Royal Yacht and Child Poverty.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

Why, are you gelouse, it seems you have never visited Birmingham mate, so If you have never seen the City centre in the flesh keep your comments to your self.

[@jamesbovington8218]

@@peterwilliamallen1063 Jealous

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@jamesbovington8218 Grow up Jealous of what, again you are talking crap !! You are comparing Birmingham of 1960 to Birmingham of 2021, to different Cities mate, as i said you do not live in the midlands or you would not come up with such rubbish.

[@jamesbovington8218]

@@peterwilliamallen1063 Simply pointing out that your post above spells jealous wrongly. (Why, are you gelouse, it seems you have never visited Birmingham mate). You seem to lack a sense of humour. For what it's worth Peter Feltham hits the nail on the head. But the same applies to most British cities including Leeds.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@jamesbovington8218 So what, spell check supposed to pick things up so spell check is crap then, but as I said you have not visited Birmingham yet you make comments on it !!! and again you are comparing a 60's city to a 21st century city, times move on. and what same applies to most British cities !!!!

[@joeleatherbarrow2623]

yeh 'you're the second city" when you have no skyscrapers compared to many or London, many has a better tram system and a greater population...

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

We do have " Skyscrapers" just another name for a high rise building and depends on the definition of a skyscraper, and no city in the UK will compare to our capital city, but we have a brilliant tram system in the making and Birmingham has the second largest population outside London of 1.5 to 2 million Citizens, no other City in the Uk apart from London has that amount of Citizens.

[@minnie_crace]

​@@peterwilliamallen1063 ​​the term "skyscraper" usually refers to a building which is at least 150 meters, where at least half of the building must be habitable (i.e. telephone masts and radio towers are not included). Under that definition Birmingham doesn't have any true skyscrapers. Some people say they only have to be 100+ meters, but you'll find most people around the world agree on 150+ (but even then, 150m is the absolute bare minimum). The only half decent skyscrapers in the UK would be in either London or Manchester. But really, you'd need to leave Europe altogether to see any proper ones!!

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@minnie_crace Oh Minnie Grace you are such a flipping anorak, explain why is Manchester so special, it is only known for Manchester United Football Club, who are crap now and Coronation Street on TV, as far as most people are concerned tall building's are termed in lay language as Sky Scrappers, and the only Cities to have them are London, New York a few other USA Cities and Cities in Asia. If you look at the CITY of MANCHESTER there are very few tall buildings / Sky scrapers in the actual City Centre, the rest are in Greater Manchester, which my dear is not the City of Manchester two totally different things, now if you tootle along the M6 passing through Spaghetti Junction Interchange in Birmingham and feast your eyes on Birmingham City Centre from afar, you will see a wonderous site of the UK's second Largest City after London and see a wonderous site of the sky line of Birmingham's City Centre with it's many tall buildings / Sky scrappers both built and under construction. the lay mans term for " Skyscraper" is a building so tall it seems to scrape the sky, only Google gives the measurements, but bugger me if I am getting a tape measure out. It seam 's Mancunians are very boring jealous people, don't forget the population of Manchester is between 560 and 580,000 citizens, yet Birmingham has 1.5 to 2 million Citizens and growing, so a little extra skyscraper here and there doesn't seem bothering about, oh by the way under construction in Brum is the tallest building out side London.

[@minnie_crace]

@@peterwilliamallen1063 ​ not sure why you're hating on me + Manchester so much. I only mentioned in passing that the tallest buildings in the UK are in London & Manchester 🤷‍♀️ You mentioned that the tallest building outside London under constriction is in Birmingham - I think you're referring to The Mercian (132 meters). City of Manchester currently has 4 taller buildings under construction (3 of which are over 150 meters). Also Birmingham's tallest approved building is 193 meters. Manchester's tallest approved building is 213 meters.

[@StormGamingYT12392]

Doesnt depend on skyscrapers it depend how live and there a lot of shops and industrial it ha dmore london

[@ravencoinspremiumadminasse6265]

Hello

[@richardtaylor8297]

Bring back the Queensway and bring back the cars

[@imranzazai7404]

Wow very nice I am your new subscriber from Afghanistan.

[@buffi944]

Well stay in Afghanistan

[@Rock-Steady]

I was born and bred in Brum and you only have to walk 5 mins out of the city centre realise all the council have done is paper over the cracks with the development of centre. The rest of Brum is still a dump.

[@ig1948]

By the way what happens when we run out of space? Because I’m the uk we build cities in a stupid way, we make a tiny laughable city centre and then miles upon miles of a suburban maze with houses that all look the same. If you look at Milan, Barcelona, Frankfurt they left more than enough space for their town centres and they are large. Specially Barcelona’s. And those cities look like cities pretty much all the way into the outskirts, but Birmingham has a laughable town centre so unless we pull of a Hong Kong or Dubai with building massively tall what’s going to happen once we run out of space. We can’t demolish housing to expand the city centre because you have to relocate the people and people don’t tend to comply with that. So what then? The city doesn’t grow any longer, do we just keep building the outskirts and adding more miles to the suburban maze outside of the centre? Do we no longer expand the economy since businesses don’t have space to move in?

[@davidsivills3599]

Manchester looks better.

[@user-ey6rl3oy7p]

All our industry is gone. The only wealth is for people who have come from EU and redone our transport, buildings ect.

[@londoneye2653]

No way, Birmingham is not nice city, looks horroble ugly and filthy no attraction no metro and the public transport omg its just disgusting no good at all

[@jakeb7912]

True its not a nice city it is a dump full of crime , depression and not enough development the people in Birmingham are very backwards and not progressive at all.

[@rosequartz7841]

Horrible

[@thehouseholder5468]

What’s the point now that you are making motorists into criminals with your inner ring road congestion charges, I’m Birmingham born and bred still living 4 miles out of the centre but I will never visit it ever again .

[@lordgemini2376]

Bye then

[@joleneannturner7785]

@@lordgemini2376 That funny. 😂

[@cacampbell1989]

Maybe you need to read up on what the CAZ actually is and does, given you don't seem to get it

[@modi_ka_baap]

barminghan is A pakistan

[@jamalstaines2818]

Birmingham is loads of English and chavs segregated city .

[@jerryn8520]

you can't even spell it!

[@jakeb7912]

Birmingham is a racist segregated dump.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@jerryn8520 Miss Buenos Aires, Of Course Birmingham is full of English, it is an English city.

[@S_H_A_R_N_I_E]

Typical Indian bor appearing to hate on Pakistan. This video is about the development of a major international city, not about the brainwashing that has been taught in India