5c. Making a successful place requires planning and design Flashcards
Why did Birmingham need to rebrand?
- Birmingham used to be known as the “City of 1000 trades” and the “workshop of the world” making it the centre of the industrial revolution.
- For quite a few decades, Birmingham struggled with its overall perception and after being bombed during world war 2 the city was rebuilt using cheaper materials. This resulted in there being many concrete ring roads, shopping centres and tower blocks which made it look like a “concrete jungle”.
The New Street train station has been the focus of this idea and was voted the worst train station in britain.
What strategies has Birmingham used to rebrand itself?
Regeneration of New Street Station – The £600 million scheme to deliver a modern focal point for Birmingham, helping to regenerate parts of the city centre creating thousands of jobs.
A state of the art Library of Birmingham – £188 million city council investment creating one of the largest libraries in Europe as well as contributing to the regeneration of the city’s “westside”.
Midland Metro Line 1 Extension – £129 million extension of the Metro Line from Snow Hill Station to New Street Station, to be completed by 2015. Will bring Metro services to digbeth and serve the HS2 station at Curzon station. They will also build a temporary stop outside the clayton hotel, allowing passengers to stop here by 2025 or 2026.
City Park – The £12 million City Park in Eastside, set for completion in 2012, will be the first urban park to be developed in Birmingham for over 125 years.
High Speed Rail – With the Government confirming its plans to bring High Speed Rail direct into the heart of Birmingham, with a proposed city centre station in Eastside.
A new City Centre Interchange on Moor Street Queensway – £12 million investment by the city council and Centro improving the bus system in the city centre.
What players have been involved in Birmingham’s rebranding process?
- The local government- attracted investment for the building of the national exhibition centre and the extension of the international airport.
- National government- City Challenge and single regeneration budget schemes - help places access funding for redevelopment.
- City council- has an EU and international affairs team- to gain funding.
Universities- younger demography and an increase in the economy- jobs and spending.
How has the rebranding affected peoples perception of Birmingham?
- Birminghams regeneration has attracted many larger companies to the city (HSBC, BT, HS2,PwC) due to the new office spces for workers.
The FT reported that in 2018 just over 19,000 people migrated from london to the west midlands compared to the 18,272 who moved the other way.
What was the regeneration of new street station, what was its relative success and players?
- The scheme had a plan to rebuild the station away from the traditional 1960’s design based on Birminghams steel and metal work background. The plan was to build a shopping centre above the station and a car park above that. However, although this increased the connectivity and the flow of people within the station, it did not increase its artistic nature and the station became a dark basement, not a welcoming image.
Success:
- The new station has several entrances and exits, making pedestrian movement in and out of the station easier. However, many say that there is little directions and the platforms are always dark, shielded from daylight. The great benefit of the redesign is a new permeability, with several entrances and exits. But this permeability is not matched by legibility A passenger emerging into the atrium from the platforms below is given little indication of which direction to go in. A vast top-lit atrium was created by knocking a big hole through the shopping centre, now renamed Grand Central. Foreign Office Architects’ intention was that daylight should continue further downwards to light the platforms below. This, however, did not happen, and passengers continue to arrive in subterranean gloom.
Players:
- MACE group
- Network rail
What was the state of the art library of Birmingham, what was its relative success and players?
They wanted to make the new library multifunctional and a cultural hub. Therefore, there is a large childrens library, family history section, business suites and a collection of 1 million books. They have combined bot the traditional and more modern, technological sides of a library to create a diverse place which hopes to attract 3m visitors every year. The futuristic new building aims to bring traditional book lending into the 21st Century while also housing one of the world’s greatest Shakespeare collections.
The focus of the library is learning and culture. There is a vast children’s library, family history section, business suites and collection of one million books, of which 400,000 are available to the public. Staff use “wands” to find electronically-tagged books, rather than rifle through shelves, and there are more than 200 PCs spread across the building, which is expected to attract 3m visitors per year.
A cross section of the library shows its different levels and shapes within the structure, including the rotunda which houses thousands of books.
Success:
The rebuilding of the library caused a lot of controversy over the redesigning as well as the demolition of the old brutalist architecture. Running costs have had to be cut since the place opened and the Mecanoo Founder Francine Houben used external swiss-manufactured aluminium to represent the history of Birmingham. Mecanoo’s great people’s palace was the subject of much controversy, both over the building itself and the demolition of the library it replaced, John Madin’s concrete inverted ziggurat of 1974 – a Brutalist masterpiece. Running costs have had to be cut since the library opened in 2013, with many staff jobs lost. But the interior spaces are grand, and the rooftop gardens are rightly popular. Controversially, Mecanoo founder Francine Houben’s used external Swiss-manufactured aluminium tracery to represent Birmingham’s metalworking history!
Players:
Birmingham City Council
What is Birmingham’s big city plan?
- The Big City Plan is the most ambitious, far-reaching development project ever undertaken in the UK. ‘Our aim is to create a world-class city centre by planning for the next 20 years of transformation’ (2010-2030). Multiple redevelopment projects are involved.
The plan is a partnership between city stakeholders working together requiring cooperation and working together.
