Hammerson files plans for Bull Ring market redevelopment

Hammerson has filed plans with Birmingham City Council to redevelop the Bull Ring Indoor Market. The site of one of the largest fish markets in the UK will be demolished to make way for a 656,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme. The proposed plans include 16,000 sq ft of commercial space and up to 745 homes or 1,544 student bedrooms and associated communal student facilities across two buildings. The site is located within the red line boundary for the development known as Smithfield, which has been promoted jointly by Lendlease and the council. The Smithfield masterplan application was filed in December 2022 and approved in June 2024 subject to the completion of a section 106 legal agreement. In addition to the indoor market and Edgbaston Street car park site, the Smithfield site encompasses the Rag Market, the Open Market, and the former wholesale markets at Barford Street and Rea Street. The parameters of the Smithfield application assume the refurbishment of the Indoor Market, and if it was to no longer be used as a market, the conversion of the ground floor into alternative uses. This was predicated on the reprovision of a new 60,000 sq ft market space, which forms part of the detailed proposals. Although Hammerson’s proposals bring forward a different outcome for the site, a viability statement prepared by Avison Young for the proposal said: “When compared with the Smithfield application, this application will not affect the delivery of Smithfield or the construction of the new market building that forms an early phase of the Smithfield proposal. Hammerson’s proposal is for a ‘self-contained’ development that would integrate with, and be compatible with, the Smithfield scheme.” View other planning applications in Birmingham >>