1978 Postcard view of the Rotunda

Whilst the foreground today is totally unrecognisable from the 1978 postcard view above following the redevelopment of the Bull Ring Shopping Centre completed in 2003, the iconic Rotunda dominates the skyline to this day with its unique cylindrical construction proving one of, if not the only, enduring remnants of the 1960s redevelopment of the City.

Designed as commercial premises by James A. Roberts (to resemble a candle!) as part of the wider development of the Bull Ring Centre, the Rotunda was completed in 1965 comprising 25 floors of office space sitting on a podium housing Lloyds Bank and below that various retail units and the Mulberry Bush public House at ground level to the rear on St Martin’s Circus Queensway.

Whilst many of the structures built during the 1960s in Birmingham have been much derided for their brutal and less than aesthetically-pleasing architecture (including others designed by Roberts), over the years the Rotunda has been extensively used for promotional purposes and has come to somewhat symbolise Birmingham to such an extent that when plans were mooted to demolish the Rotunda ahead of the redevelopment of the Bull Ring Shopping Centre, a campaign to save the structure resulted in it attaining Grade II listed status in 2000; quite an achievement for a 265ft-high 1960s reinforced concrete tower block.

The Rotunda, however, hasn’t remained in situ unscathed over the decades. During 1974 the IRA planted a bomb in the Mulberry Bush public house, latterly renamed Bar St Martin, at the base of the structure killing 21 people which further cemented the structure in the history of the City and whilst causing considerable damage to the pub and shattering an extensive number of windows in the tower above, did not structurally dame the tower’s concrete core (from which the building derives its strength).

During the demolition and redevelopment of the Bull Ring Shopping Centre (subsequently Bullring) by then-owners London and Edinburgh Trust, begun in 2000, property development company Urban Splash submitted plansfor a change of use of the Rotunda from commercial to residential premises. Occupancy, or lack thereof, had always been an issue with the Rotunda as commercial premises and the proposal was accepted with work beginning on the £25m refurbishment in 2004 (the original construction of the Rotunda having cost £1m – equivalent to c£20m today). The refurbishment was finally completed in 2008 with the tower housing 234 (predominantly wedge-shaped) apartments and featuring a more high-tech glass-fronted facade.

Whilst my initial thoughts on the original proposal to convert the Rotunda to residental dwellings was ‘how on Earth will residents find furniture to fit a curved wall?’, I have to say that Urban Splash have done an exceptional job of sympathetically rejuvinating the exterior and completely gutting and reforming the interior and have thus ensured that the future of a building that has come to symbolise Birmingham is assured.

Birmingham Central Library - Chamberlain Square (10/04/2009)

With its £193m replacement being constructed a mere few hundred yards away, the present incarnation (the third in total) seen above of Birmingham’s much-maligned Central Library’s days are numbered. Designed by Moseley-born architect John Madin and completed in 1974 the structure aesthetically has somewhat divided opinion with attempts being made in recent years to have the building listed being juxtaposed with the much reported comments of Prince Charles that it resembled somewhere books would be incinerated as opposed to stored and causing the City’s Director of Planning Clive Dutton to refer to it as a “concrete monstrosity“.

With its 5,000 visitors today and plethora of books, multimedia and specialist collection resources the Central Library certainly fulfils its primary purpose and no comment as to its appearance should detract from that. However, despite recent attempts to add to its aesthetic appeal with external artwork, the building remains a relatively high flyer in various ‘Uk’s Ugliest Building’ polls. Indeed if it is to be believed that Madin’s original plans saw the building constructed in budget-busting marble it still could be argued that the somewhat brutalist shape of the structure and rather minimalist use of externally viewable windows would still have led to much discontent.

As was mentioned earlier this particular incarnation of the Birmingham Central Library is the third to grace the City with the original burning down in the 19th century which was then replaced with two separate libraries including the Gothic-styled Birmingham Reference Library which opened in 1882. It is from here that one of the principle problems with the current library stems in that it sits at the heart of what was, and to an extent still is, a Bastian of Victorian/Gothic civic buildings. The Town Hall, the Council House, The Birmingham and Midland Institute, the Stock Exchange and the Birmingham School of Art are all around the part of the City occupied by the Central Library and are architecturally grandiose and fascinating structures (as are many around Margaret Street, Edmund Street with the ‘old’ library and Reference Library also in a similarly grand style) and then, for some reason of late 1960s urban regeneration it was seen as prudent to clear the way for placing an edifice of modernity right in the middle of them (and sweeping some such buildings aside in the process). It can be argued that this is one of the principle problems with the current Birmingham Central Library; its complete conflict with the architecture of that which surrounds it.

The new Birmingham Central Library under construction 20/05/10

Recalling the Library in the 1980s it also suffered from a sense of abandonment (as did many areas of the City Centre during the late-1970s to early 1980s) with Paradise Forum, over which it sits, forming a semi-derelict ‘wind tunnel’ until the restructuring of the roadway to the rear and its enclosure with doors at either end.

Whilst repeated attempts have been made to rejuvenate the site and its surroundings (including the equally woeful Council House Extension and Fletcher’s Walk sites), it appears that as Birmingham lurches forward into another phase of ‘mass regeneration’ (this time appearing to be trying to address the flaws of the 1960s and 1970s) the redevelopment of Paradise Circus and the adjacent Arena Central development are set to see the demolition of the current library and surrounding site with 2013 seeing the opening of the new Birmingham Central Library currently under construction on Broad Street.

Former ATV Headquarters - Alpha Tower

Designed by George Marsh and opened in 1973, the 328ft Alpha Tower at the junction of Broad Street and Suffolk Street was built as the flagship headquarters of the ITV regional televison franchise company ATV (Associated Television) who held the Midlands region broadcasting franchise from 1956 until 1982 when it passed to Central Television.

The 200,000 sq ft of office space contained within Alpha Tower formed part of the hub of the ATV television network adjoining their ATV Centre studios on Broad Street, a connection walkway to which was built from Alpha Tower following its completion. Sadly with the demise of ATV in 1982, and of its successor Central Television during the 1990s, Alpha Tower was gradually abandoned.

However, Alpha Tower now sits at the heart of the £400m Arena Central development project being undertaken by Miller Developments and Bridgehouse Capital which aims to clear the area and create a central square around which will be yet more offices, restaurants and ‘living space’ etc etc. The good news, for once, is that – despite the best efforst of Alpha Tower’s owners at the time – in 2002 Alpha Tower was granted Grade A locally listed status and thus its future was assured inspite of all around it facing the bulldozer.

Birmingham Assay Office - Newhall Street

Opening in 1773 following the Hallmarking Act, the purpose of the Birmingham Assay Office was to validate the quality of the precious metal used and to hallmark the item to attest to this measure having been validated (the hallmark indicating the maker and date of item and the anchor symbol indicating the Birmingham Assay Office).  With a flourishing ‘Jewellery Quarter’ at Hockley, the Assay Office was destined to be an increasingly busy place and, interestingly, its first customer was Matthew Boulton who had tirelessly campaigned for the opening of a local Assay Office due to the restrictive practice of having to send all products to London to be assayed.

In 1877, the Assay Office moved to its current location on the corner of Newhall Street and Charlotte Street – opposite the Elkington’s Silver Electroplating Works that was later to become home to the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry.

An enduring success story in the history of Birmingham, the Assay Office in Newhall Street is today the largest in the World handling in excess of 12 million precious metal items a year!

Birmingham Stock Exchange, Margaret Street / Great Charles Street

Due to Birmingham’s flurishing industry and growing reputation as a centre of commerce, a regional Birmingham Stock Exchange was setup in 1845 through the Birmingham Stock Exchange Association which met in a variety of venues in the City Centre before coming to rest in the building that is seen above in 1928, the year of its building during the City’s Art Nouvea architectural period.

In 1971 the Birmingham Stock Exchange, along with other regional exchanges, was absorbed into the London Stock Exchange and the organisation became a token extension of that organisation until the late 1980s.

The financial theme has been preserved however, with the building curently occupied by EFG Private Bank Limited and their stockbroking division EFG Harris Allday.

ThinkTank - Eastside, City Centre/Aston 26/05/06

The Eastside development is a phased regeneration project aimed at revitalising a 420 acre tract of land immediately to the East of the City Centre, largely encompassed within a triangle formed by Curzon Street, Lawley Middleway and Jennens Lane at a cost of £6bn.

One of the first signs of the development, Millennium Point on Curzon Street which opened in 2001 and houses the Birmingham Science Museum amongst its ‘ThinkTank’ facilities, can be seen above. What is also interesting here is the great contrast between the old and the new: to the left of the shot is a derelict workshop on Grosvenor Street which sits quite uncomfortably next to the ’space age’ stylings of Millennium Point.

The proposed redevelopment encompasses the old favourites of offices, bars & restaurants, open spaces/parks and ‘innovative centres of technology’, city apartments etc . . . Now, not wanting to appear at all curmudgeonly or standing in the way of ‘progress’ but there does seem to be an awful lot of the above list already in Birmingham, a fair proportion of it vacant, and the laudible outpourings of the Council that they are developing an ‘area of inclusion for local people . . . benefiting the local community etc . . .’ can be viewed with a more sceptical eye: the extent to which Brindley Place apartments, the shops of the Mailbox, and the million and one bars on Broad Street have benefited the people of Ladywood and its surroundings being a moot point.

However, that aside, the area once provided for a fascinating walk as it was an industrial ghost town with all the roads lined with a variety of Victorian industrial premises (and some more recent), which had been the subject of a mass compulsory purchase order and were all ‘Acquired by Advantage West Midlands’ – the Regional Development Agency.  To attest to that point I have posted a selection of photographs of the area below taken in 2006.

BBC Pebble Mill - Pebble Mill Road, Edgbaston 14/08/05

The BBC’s Pebble Mill complex opened in 1971 on a 6 acre site and was the hub of regional programming – including the popular Pebble Mill at 1 show which ran from 1973 to 1986 along with regional news programmes and Gardening Today for which the BBC also ‘annexed’ part of Kings Heath Park.

However, as with the majority of 1960/70s constructions, they were far from structurally perfect and Pebble Mill suffered from more than its fair share of flaws. In addition to this, the shift in programming from cosy studio sets to outside/mobile broadcasting left the need for the vast studio complex shrinking coupled with advances in IT meaning most of the work of the BBC in the region could be accomplished in a much smaller, high-tech environment.

In 2004, the inevitable happened and the BBC announced it would be moving to new premises at the Mailbox in the City Centre. Advantage West Midlands, the Regional Development Agency, acquired the site from the BBC and promptly set about demolishing and clearing the site to make way for a technology and science park . . . which has yet to be fully realised.

Not one of the more aesthetically pleasing structures in the region, it was nevertheless a landmark structure and, through its connection with television and radio, one of the most famous.