Development History

July 1987

Developers were invited by Birmingham City Council to draw up a blueprint for the vacant 26 acres of land adjacent to the International Convention Centre site.

‘A magnet to attract thousands of people’
The overall scheme was scheduled to be completed and operational by Spring 1991. The site was leased to a consortium of three companies; Merlin Shearwater and Laing (MSL). MSL planned to create a ‘huge leisure and entertainment area’. Their experience in developing a major city attraction in Baltimore, USA, which attracts up to 26 million visitors per year, was said to have been a major factor in their tender being accepted.

The Masterplan

The consortium paid £23 million for the development rights and much of the money was used to build the National Indoor Arena (NIA).  Their proposal for a £200 million development included the NIA and a tourist visitor led Festival Market and National Aquarium. A monorail system linking the complex with other parts of the city centre was discussed, based on a system used in Merlin’s Darling Harbour scheme in Sydney, Australia. The National Aquarium ‘A Whale of a Tourist Attraction’ was expected to attract two million visitors a year and would be similar to those already existing in Baltimore and Boston, USA.

September 1989

‘Go For Big Broad Street Plan’
This slogan made headlines when the development finally received planning permission. The agreement, however, did not include the multi-million pound monorail, but included 600,000 square feet of office space. This was to be the ‘final piece of the jigsaw’ to transform the Broad Street area into a commercial and leisure development.

October 1989

The exchange of contracts between the developers and the City Council took place at the topping out ceremony over the NIA railway tunnel. It was said to be one of the most exciting regeneration schemes ever seen in this country!

July 1990

Merlin pulled out of the scheme due to fears about the property slump and the project was taken over by Shearwater’s parent company, Rosehaugh, who subsequently set up Brindleyplace Plc as a subsidiary company to oversee the development. The Festival Marketplace was said to be ‘unfundable’.

The New Scheme

Rosehaugh re-looked at the masterplan for the development.  Working with Birmingham City Council it drew up a new scheme which contained many of the components of the festival marketplace proposals, but in a form whereby each phase could be separately financed and built. The planning committee was concerned that the area could be a ‘dead zone’ after dark, but were in the end convinced that this was not the case.

March 1991

‘Exciting proposals for a high quality, mixed-use redevelopment’
By December 1991 another plan was submitted for approval based on the revised masterplan. The development was now to include Birmingham’s fifth public square, constructed and paid for by the developers, but for the benefit of all the residents and visitors to the city who wished to enjoy it.

Buzzing Atmosphere

The development included 19 restaurants, shops and bars in Birmingham’s first ever purpose designed leisure venue overlooking the canals. The development proposals also contained 120 homes to encourage more people to live in the city, rather than outside of it (this would become Symphony Court). There was 1,100,000 square feet of offices, which would create 6,000 jobs. The leisure element was not absolutely certain but possible options at the time were Science of Sport, an Imax Cinema, bowling alley and the existing Crescent Theatre was to be rebuilt on Brindleyplace. A property research company (hired by Brindleyplace) found that the Brindleyplace site was ‘outstanding in a local, regional and national sense’ in terms of the amount of new office space available.

July 1992

Outline planning permission was gained. This meant that the scheme would be implemented in phases and led by ‘market demand’ employing 6,000 people on completion.

It wasn’t all plain sailing….
The obstacles had not only been financial, but ecological! In the recession, progress had been slow and Ecologists ‘discovered’ that the site was home to a very rare Black Redstart. A bird which is a protected species. Work could not begin until the birds migrated.

November 1992

Rosehaugh’s shares were suspended at 7.5p where they once traded at 925p. The company’s debts were reported to be at £350 million. After an anxious wait Brindleyplace was declared to be safe. Brindleyplace Plc as a subsidiary of the Rosehaugh parent company continued its work.

June 1993

Argent Group Plc, a privately owned UK property company, purchased Brindleyplace for an undisclosed sum.

The Official Launch

Workmen moved on site on 6 September 1993 and the building project was launched on 29 September 1993. The first part of the development to be completed was The Water’s Edge – a canalside scheme of shops, restaurants and bars which was officially opened in November 1994.

The Buildings

Want to know more about when and where the buildings at Brindleyplace were built?