Birmingham council’s scheme to regenerate the city’s Eastside area is long on vision but still needs backers. Helen Osborne looks at the masterplan
As bulldozers raze the bastions of Birmingham’s Mass House Circus, councillor Albert Bore will view the emerging landscape expectantly.
The city council’s leader is pioneering the regeneration of the Eastside region: a 170ha (420 acre) site east of New Street Station, stretching north to Dartmouth circus and bounded by the A4540. The question is whether leisure will play a leading role as it has done in other regeneration schemes in the city. Even business districts such as Broad Street have had a new lease of life with the introduction of leisure at ground level.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Guy Webber, who has been in Birmingham for four years, believes the site has a lot to live up to. “It should be focused towards mixed use. There is so much going on in Birmingham to attract attention,” he says. “We have to get Eastside at the top of the agenda against the city.”
Multiplexes are unlikely to be the order of the day because schemes such as Star City, Five Ways and Broadway Plaza are already there to soak up demand.
Although Birmingham city council is financially pinched, Richard Green, director of Birmingham city council’s Eastside project, comments: “We wouldn’t dissuade a multiplex.”
But the area will not have the same leisure thrust as Broad Street. Green adds: “The focus is not leisure.”
Financial backing for the area, which will include a park, rests with the private sector. Lee Richardson of Richardson Developments, which completed the regeneration of the industrial heartlands with its Star City retail and leisure scheme, sees Eastside as a natural progression, saying: “We will be interested.” He is awaiting further details of the scheme.
As are other developers. With evidence of other successful regeneration in the city, it is hoped that eliciting private investment will not be as difficult a task as it was with the first schemes such as Brindleyplace.
Mark Billingham, director at The Mailbox, another mixed-use regeneration project, says: “Investors won’t need persuading. They will need dissuading. I know people willing to put money there.”
Considering that west Birmingham is brimming with mixed-use schemes, some developers have their hands full already. The Birmingham Alliance – Hammerson, Land Securities and Henderson Investors – is one such example.
Peter Cleary, assistant director at Land Securities, says of city-centre projects: “We have a lot to do.” The Alliance’s primary focus is west, and Cleary says of Eastside: “In the longer term we wouldn’t preclude it but it is not our primary perspective.”
But he adds: “We are not representative of the whole. There will be enthusiasm.”
Billingham underlines the need to start out on the right foot. “It is fundamental to get the masterplan right. There has got to be a strategic vision to the outside world.”
Mark Harris, development director at Carillion Development Management, agrees, saying: “If there was a fantastic masterplan, perceptions would change overnight. Someone needs to have the right vision.”
He worries that things could go wrong if the vision is not pushed. “Councils often create masterplans but by the time they have finished, the market has moved on,” he says.
Overall, his stance is positive. “It’s such a good concept that if someone drives it, it will happen.”
Birmingham council’s Bore says: “A masterplan is in place but we need to flesh out the details.”
Billingham perceives the current situation as “a stone being pushed up the mountain to be rolled over the ridge”.
Challenge for the site
The first challenge for the site, removing what Bore describes as its “psychological barrier”, the Mass House Circus road system, will be a crucial breakthrough in his crusade. He says: “Once the system is out, people will see Eastside as accessible.”
When this happens – Bore hopes work will start in 2001 – neglected east will meet prosperous west.
Bore says: “There will be a focus on learning, technology and heritage.” Residential will be a key element that Bore hopes will attract developers but the emphasis is on “a good balance”.
Some developers have expressed concern about the multiple ownership of the area. Carillion’s Harris says: “It’s difficult to find part of the action. Eastside is owned by a multitude of companies. They need to organise a land-sharing deal.”
He would like to see the council “coming out to the market and seeking developers”.
It comes back to the masterplan. Bore says: “Once we have got further along with the masterplan, we will have to look at how various landowners will want to work. We haven’t yet come to that understanding.”
This will be a challenge. For Bore, improvements to Mass House Circus will attract interest. Another lure will be Millennium Point, the crux of Bore’s learning and technology theme. Webber says: “Millennium Point is essential. Without it the task would be difficult.”
Anne O’Meara of Edge Ellison adds: “It is a big complex. People can see that it is a piece in the jigsaw.”
Focal point for regeneration
Just eight minutes’ walk from the city centre, Millennium Point will be a focal point for regeneration.
Completion is set for September 2001 but funds are still £2m short. Assistant chief executive of Millennium Point, Georgina East, remains unfazed. “This is negligible in the overall scheme of things.”
The scheme will be looking to the private sector or grant funding to bridge the gap. East adds: “We are very confident we will meet the target.”
Richard Brown of Insignia Richard Ellis is undecided: “I’m not sure how it will be received.”
East explains: “The indications are that we will get visitors.” Components of the scheme, such as the technical innovation centre and discovery centre, have been operational for some time and are doing well, he says.
Whether this alone will bring in the developers, only time will tell.
And O’Meara picks up another issue surrounding the site: “It will be interesting to see if Millennium Point opens up the area beyond it, or if that will be a boundary.”
She hopes that road infrastructure towards Digbeth will open up opportunities. “It will be unfortunate if it does not,” she adds.
Others see Digbeth as a different entity. Brown says: “I don’t think people will jump at it.”
Birmingham’s council’s Green remains pragmatic. “It is a mistake to expect things to just happen,” he says. “Investment will spread its way out to sites on the fringe.”
Whether this comes at the pace that is necessary to fuel a potentially dynamic vision is ultimately the private sector’s call.
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Leisure scheme take-up |
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The leisure sector is playing a leading role in Birmingham developments |
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Scheme and details |
Tenant |
Space (m2) |
Agents |
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Broadway Plaza Developed by Morrisons |
AMC |
8,361 |
Oliver Liggins/FPDSavills |
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Healthlands |
3,740 |
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Wessex Leisure Group |
2,323 |
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Fiveways Leisure Developed by Richardson Developments; acquired by Marylebone Warwick Balfour; opening July Phase one: |
Virgin Cinemas multiplex |
6,782 |
DTZ Debenham Tie Leung |
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Tiger Tiger |
2,230 |
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Phase two: |
Grosvenor Casinos |
1,672 |
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Also signed up: |
Nando’s |
325 |
|
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Riki Tiki Tavi’s |
506 |
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Henry J Bean’s |
393 |
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Waxy O’Connors |
820 |
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Bitz and Pizza |
251 |
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The Mailbox Developed by Birmingham Mailbox |
Malmaison |
DTZ Debenham Tie Leung/ Davis Coffer Lyons |
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Days Inn |
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Fish! restaurant |
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Star City Developed by Richardson Developments; acquired by Marylebone Warwick Balfour |
Superbowl/Borders Books |
743 |
Phoenix Beard |
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MVC/Cromwells Mad House |
930 |
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Burger King/Riki Tiki Tavi’s/ Ma Potters/Bar Med/Pizza Hut/ Old Orleans/Bar Censsa/De:Alto/ Long Island Ice Tea/Nando’s |
372 |
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Heroes Sports Bar/Warner Village Cinemas (30 screens) |
15,793 |
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BB’s Coffee/Holmes Place |
4,645 |
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Source: Mailbox/Richardson developments/Morrisons |
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