Time's running out
The building on the right, curving into the distance, is the Ringway Centre at Smallbrook Queensway in the centre of Birmingham. It was designed by James Roberts and Sydney Greenwood and completed in 1962, and is integral to the creative vision for the earliest part of the city's inner ring road. Architecture and road layout combine to make an heroic piece of town planning, typical of its era. The Ringway Centre has street level shops, office space in the upper stories and forms a bridge spanning Hurst Street halfway along its elevation.
Notable architectural details include the bands of pre-cast abstract geometric relief panels that separate floors, creating powerful horizonal visual emphasis, and projecting sculptural concrete uplighters which are my own favourite features.
On 1st February 2024 Birmingham City Council's planning committee voted in favour of allowing the building to be demolished. In its place three tower blocks of 44, 48 and 56 stories respectively are planned for the site.
Now (July 2024) a coalition of organisations that believe the building should be saved has applied for permission to lodge a judicial review of that planning committee decision. But to cover the costs of doing this a sum of £15,000 must be raised by 18th July 2024.
The coalition's arguments are threefold:
• Heritage - the Ringway Centre is one of the best surviving modernist buildings from Birmingham's post-war reconstruction
• Zero carbon - demolition and redevelopment would release 187 million Kg of CO2
• Local democracy - the City Council's plans for Birmingham (including this project) do not take account of residents' opinions. This campaign seeks to redress that imbalance
Those who know anything about my architectural tastes won't be surprised to learn that this is a building that I like a lot. I agree with all the arguments above and support the building's re-use rather than demolition on grounds of environmental impact alone.
Photograph made Saturday 10th February 2024.
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringway_Centre
Pevsner Architectural Guides - Birmingham by Andy Foster (2005), Yale University Press
Time's running out
The building on the right, curving into the distance, is the Ringway Centre at Smallbrook Queensway in the centre of Birmingham. It was designed by James Roberts and Sydney Greenwood and completed in 1962, and is integral to the creative vision for the earliest part of the city's inner ring road. Architecture and road layout combine to make an heroic piece of town planning, typical of its era. The Ringway Centre has street level shops, office space in the upper stories and forms a bridge spanning Hurst Street halfway along its elevation.
Notable architectural details include the bands of pre-cast abstract geometric relief panels that separate floors, creating powerful horizonal visual emphasis, and projecting sculptural concrete uplighters which are my own favourite features.
On 1st February 2024 Birmingham City Council's planning committee voted in favour of allowing the building to be demolished. In its place three tower blocks of 44, 48 and 56 stories respectively are planned for the site.
Now (July 2024) a coalition of organisations that believe the building should be saved has applied for permission to lodge a judicial review of that planning committee decision. But to cover the costs of doing this a sum of £15,000 must be raised by 18th July 2024.
The coalition's arguments are threefold:
• Heritage - the Ringway Centre is one of the best surviving modernist buildings from Birmingham's post-war reconstruction
• Zero carbon - demolition and redevelopment would release 187 million Kg of CO2
• Local democracy - the City Council's plans for Birmingham (including this project) do not take account of residents' opinions. This campaign seeks to redress that imbalance
Those who know anything about my architectural tastes won't be surprised to learn that this is a building that I like a lot. I agree with all the arguments above and support the building's re-use rather than demolition on grounds of environmental impact alone.
Photograph made Saturday 10th February 2024.
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringway_Centre
Pevsner Architectural Guides - Birmingham by Andy Foster (2005), Yale University Press