Introduction
Brindleyplace has been transformed from a rural settlement into a growing industrial area in the 1900's. Brindleyplace is now the workplace for over 7,000 people.
The Brindleyplace development offers an enormous range of opportunities, which schools can exploit, with the help of this section. It is not intended that this should be a scheme of work; it is a resource from which teachers can select pages, which will be of particular use in a given project.
For instance: -
- The historical information is presented in such a way that it will be particularly useful to KS2 teachers as a case study of Victorian Birmingham. -Information relating to the regeneration of the area will be particularly useful to GCSE geography teachers.
Brindleyplace up to 1810
Up until the 1760's the area now occupied by Brindleyplace was open countryside on the west side of Birmingham town.
A sandstone ridge running from Birmingham to Five Ways had become a popular routeway for vehicle and pedestrian traffic, it was, and still is, known as Broad Street.
James Brindley, a Canal Engineer, started cutting a canal from the coalfields of the Black Country to Birmingham, which cut across the sandstone ridge into the town centre. As the industrial revolution took hold in England, factories grew up alongside the canal and the area on which Brindleyplace now stands quickly became industrialised. Broad Street soon contributed to the industrial growth of Birmingham, which became known as the City of a Thousand Trades.
By 1810 the canal which forms the north and east edges of Brindleyplace, was well established. The canal terminated at the old wharf, now the site of Central Television. Sheepcote Street, then Sheepcote Lane, formed the western boundary of what became Brindleyplace. The Brasshouse was, established in 1781, but Oozells Street still had not been cut and the land was still rural.
The tollgate at Five Ways could be seen and to the south east there was a build up area of densely packed houses in what was then called Islington.
A large house in extensive grounds was known as Bingley House, this became Bingley Hall and is now the site of the International Convention Centre. A crescent shape of houses overlooked the canal - this is how the Crescent Theatre got its name. It was once housed in a dwelling within the Crescent.
The Site of Brindleyplace 1907
By 1907 all the roads had been cut and the railway and engine sheds were in place in the area now occupied by the National Indoor Arena. The Sheepcote Street Stables were located at a point between the canal and the railway.
The densely populated streets of Ladywood contained large families, which were served by Oozells Street School and Nelson Street School. Notice also, that at this time a large exhibition hall known as Bingley Hall had been built.
This is now the site of the International Convention Centre. Also, note the extent of the canal network, which extended through Gas Street Basin to the Old Wharf, and via a tunnel under Cambridge Street to Baskerville Place.
This is now the site of Baskerville House and the Hall of Memory
The Canals
Canals were built so that goods could be transported cheaply. Lots of metal goods like nails, hinges and screws were made in factories close to the canals. The metal goods were made using coal, iron ore and limestone, all known as 'raw' materials. The raw materials, especially coal, were found up to twenty miles from Birmingham in an area known as the Black Country. Transporting these materials by road was expensive and the roads were in poor condition so people looked at other forms of transport.
In 1768 an Act of Parliament was passed to enable a canal to be built from Wolverhampton, in the Black Country area, to Birmingham. The Engineer in charge was called James Brindley. The is where Brindleyplace got its name.
The canal opened on 6 November 1769 and the price of coal in Birmingham was halved because transportation via the canal was cheaper than using road transport.
Money could be saved by transporting the materials in larger quantities, with less labour and in less time than by any other means of transport for that period. Coal had been selling at up to 18 shillings (90p) per ton. By May 1770 it had fallen to 4 shillings (20p) per ton. Once the metal goods had been made or manufactured, they were transported to the place where they were sold by barge.
A popular poet of the time called John Freethmade a song about the canal, which went like this:
"Then revel in gladness, let harmony flow,
From the district of Bordesley to Paradise Row.
For true feeling joy in each breast must be wrought.
When coals under five pence per hundred are bought."
John Freeth died in 1808 and a street in Ladywood was named after him.
James Brindley
James Brindley was a millwright who taught himself how to construct canals.
He worked on a canal for the Duke of Bridgwater, which opened in 1761.
He was then employed as the Chief Engineer on the canal from Wolverhampton to Birmingham. He was born in 1716 and died in 1772.
Today, Brindley is remembered not only by the name Brindleyplace but also by a public house in nearby Gas Street Basin.
The Canal Network
Other canals were soon built and Birmingham became the centre of the canal network. Canals were linked up to rivers, which lead to towns on the coast. Sometimes there was rivalry between different canal companies who accused each other of stealing the water. Where two canals met at Gas Street Basin a barrier was put across the canal and goods had to be taken off the barges and taken over the barrier to be put back on a barge to travel on the next canal. James Brindley's canal was 22 miles long and rather winding. In parts there was no towpath; it was quite shallow and became known as the 'crooked ditch'.
Another canal builder, Thomas Telford, was employed to improve the course of the canal. Between 1824 and 1829 he cut out a lot of the winding loops and this reduced the length of the canal from 22 to 14 miles. It therefore became even quicker to transport goods along the canal. It therefore became even quicker to transport goods along the canal. Unloading areas for the raw materials were built on the sides of the canals, these were known as Wharves. The biggest Wharves were built on Paradise Row where Central Television now stands. Another large Wharf was built on the Brindleyplace site and became known as Oozells Street Wharf. The only survivor of canal warehouses is found at Kingston Wharf adjacent to the National Indoor Arena.
It is a Grade II listed building that dates from c1820. It has a gabled wagon entrance and canalside-loading bay.The building today is home to the Institute of Electrical Engineers and is now known as Austin Court. Raw materials unloaded at the wharf were transported straight into the factories behind it. Many factories grew up in Oozells Street, Sheepcote Street and Cumberland Street. The largest factory was the Atlas Works, which made wire mattresses.
The Railaway age
The main Birmingham to Wolverhampton Railway runs beneath the National Indoor Arena and International Convention Centre. It opened as the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway. In July 1847 landowners in the area agreed to sell the substrata underneath their premises and the land was excavated mainly by blasting with gunpowder, for the building of the railway tunnel.
The tunnel entrance, built in 1847, is now under the National Indoor Arena but is visible when travelling by train. (see right image)
A depot was built at the corner of Sheepcote Street in 1840 for the London and North Western Railway as a mineral and coal wharf. The building, which still exists, was built in a horseshoe shape to accommodate up to 49 working horses. The horses were used to transport goods, which were unloaded at Oozells Street Wharf and the railway depot.
Oozells Street
There are numerous suggestions relating to the derivation of the word Oozells. No one knows the correct derivation, but here are some theories:
- It was on land once owned by Miss Colmore. She sold off the land to pay gambling debts to a French refugee called Oozell.
- Oozells was possibly the name of a builder or owner of land. This was suggested by a reader to a newspaper in 1934
- Oozells Farms may have been on the land, but no map appears to confirm this.
- Oozells may have meant 'high houses' built in sandstone ridge on Broad Street. 'Lozells' meaning low houses.
- Oozells is a corruption of Ousel. An Ousel cock was once a common name for a blackbird. Blackbirds congregated and sang in the hedgerows.
- The area may have belonged to a family known as Odingsell or Oddinseles. The Oddinseles once possessed a number of manors in the Midlands.
Atlas Works
The largest building on Oozells Street was the red brick Atlas Works that from c1887 to c1958 were the premises of T.E. Wales and Sons.
Thomas Edmund Wale was a wire mattress and bedding manufacturer who became the largest manufacturer of these goods in the Midlands.
T.E. Wales adapted to changing fashions. A catalogue showing a range of their products is kept in Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies Department.
Oozells Street North
This is how the buildings looked on Oozells Street North in January 1986.(see right hand side image) The rear of the premises backed onto the rear of Oozells Street North. The building on the right is a former church listed as 'Sunday School' on the 1889 map. The James Foundry once occupied the vacant space on the opposite side of the road.
Barker and Allen, wire drawers in 1888, were said to have a factory "of the newest description, complete in all its details and finding constant employment for a considerable number of hands".
Hunt & Mitton occupied the site for over 100 years and manufactured boiler and engine fittings. The 1894 catalogue proudly announced that they made 'preventatives of boiler explosions'. Additionally, the Hunt & Mitton brasswork range included, "the best and cheapest Fire and Guard Engine" known as the Aquajet.
Industrial Premises on Cumberland Street
James Collins owned the Brassworks at the corner of Cumberland Street and Oozells Street North. The factory was built in the mid-1830's. Collins made cabinet brass fittings and later ship and railway fittings, on this site until the 1950's.
The James's Foundry was located on the opposite side of Collins' Brassworks, set up by Charles James, probably around 1850, this later became Bragg and Midwinters Brass Foundry until 1910. An 1888 survey stated that Bragg and Midwinters were iron and brass founders, engineers, millwrights, machinists, manufacturers of all kinds of lifting jacks, wire strainers etc.
The Atlantic Clock Works belonged to Charles Cartwright and Sons, which existed from c1865, adjacent to it was the Washington Works where William Mitchell manufactured steels pens from the mid-1850's up to about 1910.
Steam Pins & Ironmongery
Many of the businesses in 1889 are still operating today, having expanded from their humble beginnings on Broad Street.
Notable examples include: - The Pin Manufactory (located next to Brasshouse Passage). This was owned by Messrs Jarrett and Rainsford. They now operate from Warstock under the name of Laughtons.
- Mr Parker, an Ironmonger, owned the premises adjacent to the Pin Manufactory. Parker took on partners and expanded into Parker, Winder and Achurch, which was a major employer on Broad Street until 1972 and now operates from Kings Norton.
- The Engine Works belonged to G.E. Belliss. Belliss expanded into Belliss and Morcom a major steam compressors who now operate from premises in Ladywood.
Jarret & Rainsford
In the mid 1800's pins were made from the best brass wire and by 1824 a machine had been invented to manufacture 150 pins per minute.
In 1860 Mr Stephen Jarrett, a pin maker from Gloucestershire came to Birmingham and joined forces with a merchant, Mr Charles Rainsford. As the brass industry was rapidly expanding in the area it seemed logical to locate their factory on Broad Street - next door to the Brasshouse!
In November 1860 six employees earned ?7 0s 10d between them a week, working a 10 hour day, six days a week. By March 1880 seventy employees earned ?61 9s 4d. Pins were sold to wholesale drapers and haberdashery businesses.
Parker, Winder and Achurch
The directory lists William Parker (1845), Henry Parker (1860) and Parker, Winder and Achurch (1900) all of whom occupied the same premises.
Parker, Winder and Achurch began life as a small one-man business in 1836 and eventually became one of the largest businesses in the street. Originally manufacturing the goods, but later buying in finished goods for re-sale.
In 1858 William Parker employed Henry Parker (no relation to William), as his apprentice and it is Henry's name, which appears on the 1876 advertisement below.
Business in the ironmongery trade increased and the company expanded by recruiting Mr Alfred Winder in 1873 and Mr John Achurch in 1890 and they operated from then as Parker, Winder and Achurch.
Over the years Parker, Winder and Achurch sold an expanded range of metal-based goods, which reflected the changes in construction methods and fashion. By the end of the Victorian era, Parker, Winder and Achurch had showrooms in New Street; workshops and warehouses in nearby Brasshouse Passage, and St. Peter's Place (now the site of the International Convention Centre).
Parker, Winder and Achurch adapted to changing modes of transport and replaced their horse drawn carriages with a fleet of delivery vehicles which ran on the new pneumatic tyres, they were later housed in new garages.
In 1936 Parker, Winder and Achurch decided that their premises were too small. They moved to a new building on the opposite side of Broad Street where they remained until 1972. Since then they have moved to Hockley and Kings Norton and still trade today.
Belliss and Morcom
The Broad Street building can be traced back to at least 1852 when it was occupied by Richard and Francis Bach who had a general engineering business. In 1855 they enlisted Mr George Edward Belliss as an apprentice, who later formed a partnership with a J. J. Seekings and bought out the company. They developed a keen interest in the development of steam power and the design of boat engines, and from this came work with the Royal Navy.
The business expanded and G.E.Belliss moved out of Broad Street to nearby Ledsam Street in 1872. The steam launch machinery was said to be of exceptional lightness with engines running at much higher speeds than were previously in vogue.
In 1884 Belliss took on Alfred Morcom as a partner. Morcom was previously the Chief Engineer at the Royal Naval Dockyards at Sheerness.
The firm expanded and moved to their present site in Icknield Square, Ladywood in 1899. G.E. Belliss died in 1909.
Today over 60% of their compressors are exported. The farthest that one has been was in 1988 when the Arianne European Space Rocket was launched to take telecommunications equipment into orbit. The initial boost was provided thanks to compressors supplied by Bellis & Morcom. Bellis and Morcom are now part of APE, Amalgamated Power Engineering Limited, specialising in Air and Gas compressors.
The Broad Street site was taken over by Piercy's Engineers and Iron Founders and eventually, the Reeve and Stedeford Car Sales Company were the last firm to trade from the site.
The Triangle Site
This was originally an area of heavy industry alongside the canal. A private road, Nile Street, was built adjacent to the canal.
On this site stood a number of metal working factories, which took advantage of the canalside location for loading and unloading raw materials and finished goods.
Most of these companies closed down and the site became derelict.
The Brasshouse
The Birmingham Brasshouse was established in 1781. At that time the manufacturers of the Town of Birmingham relied on prices set by Brasshouses in other parts of the country. It was decided that a local centre was needed to try to help stabilise price fluctuations. 200 proprietors had to raise ?100 each to set up the Centre and as a result of their endeavours; the price of brass fell from ?84 to ?56 a ton.
Brass was made at the rear of the Brasshouse until about 1850. The array of furnaces and chimneys were demolished by 1866 when the Birmingham Water Company took over the building. The building is named as The Water Works Office on the 1889 map.
Later the building became the Weights and Measures Department and after remaining derelict was purchased by Ansells and converted into a Public House and Restaurant.
The ?1? million conversion of the building was announced in 1988. The name of the restaurant is 'Celebrity' and comes from a restaurant, which once existed in King Alfred's Place, now the site of the International Convention Centre.
The image to the rights is the same view as that shown on the previous page. It clearly shows the change in land use from industrial brassworks to tourism. The furnaces have been replaced by the extension to the Brasshouse Public House and part of The Water's Edge.
The Site of Bush House
Bush House was a large office block located in the corner of Cumberland Street and Broad Street. It was the Headquarters of the City of Birmingham's Housing Department and was opened in March 1958 and closed in 1989.
The land was cleared for its construction in 1937 but the war meant that construction had to be halted and for fourteen years there was a 'steel skeleton' on Broad Street. The building was originally meant for Odeon Cinemas and it is said that Woolworth were also going to occupy the site. After the war, however, the City's Housing Department completed the skeleton and built 171 offices in the building, which was said to be the largest Housing Department Headquarters in Europe.
The Bush House Site - pre 1937
In the 1870's wealthy professional people, including a professor of music and a surgeon occupied the Broad Street frontage.
Industrial premises chart the changing face of industry. Much of the area beyond the canal at the rear and beyond Five Ways was rural.
A privately run Turkish Baths, was on the site from 1877 to 1926. A public baths in nearby Ladywood also included a 'popular Turkish Baths Service' or 'Hot Air Lavatories'! - all at a time when most of the nearby homes had no indoor baths.
In the early decades of the century the Patent Metallic Air Tight Coffin Company introduced hermetically sealed coffins to the site. These had plate glass panels in the lid, which were said to be "exceedingly useful articles in case of contagious diseases".
The Five Ways Working Men's Club
This was established in 1906. The premises built in 1929 of Portland Stone, had the emblem of a 'British Lion' and 'Rising Sun' which was said to be 'symbolic of the dawn of a new era for working men'. In 1925 there were 800 members, but it closed in 1938 due to 'changes in the social life of Birmingham'.
A report stated "The tentacles of the City have spread even further a field, removing the working class population from the central area to re-housing districts on the outskirts". This was the time that outer city estates such as Northfield and Quinton were being constructed.
The building was the first in the street to be set back for a new building line, 45 feet back from the road, to make way for street widening. Bush House was built in line with it, but the street was not widened and the Novotel was not constructed to this building line.
Transport
In 1845 Broad Street contained a number of small every day use general shops, which were used by the people who lived in the heavily populated streets, which ran off Broad Street, and by people who travelled to work along it. Most of the area, which stretched beyond Ladywood, Lee Bank, and the area known as Five Ways was rural. Jenkings was a harness marker at the corner of Oozells Street where farmers could call on their way to the market in the town centre for repairs or to buy a new harness. A harness was a collection of leather straps by which horses were hooked to carts. The Brasshouse was the major industrial manufacturer.
At that time the street was in poor condition. The surface was often muddy in winter. The road was improved with stones and pebbles. People paid a small fee to use the improved street. The money collected was used to make additional improvements. Road users paid their toll at a special gate at Five Ways.
A wealthy businessman, Mr Ryland, lived nearby and was one of the men involved in running the tollgate through a group called the Turnpike Trust. Mr Ryland owned much of the land near to Five Ways and he laid out the streets near the present site of Tesco. He called one of the roads Ryland Street and another called Ruston Street (both still exist today). Ruston was the maiden name of the woman Ryland married - Martha Ruston.
Having surveyed part of the road, the staff were ordered to cause all the ruts and wheel tracks to be beaten down and levelled, and the sand road to be made eight foot wide according to the Broad Wheel Act. It was in July 1773 that the gates were erected at Five Ways. Benjamin Burbridge became the first toll collector on a wage of seven shillings a week! In 1788 the road from Five Ways to Bridge Street was enlarged to a width of 20 yards. In 1789 a new toll keeper was ordered not to sell bread or any other article at the said gate.
A record of a meeting of the Trustees in 1796 states that the road between Five Ways and Birmingham be occasionally scraped during the Winter and the dirt carried off as soon as possible. The following year strong gravel was requested at or under the price of one shilling per load of 30 cwt. 200 loads were immediately purchased and spread between Birmingham and Five Ways.
The tollgate was finally removed from Five Ways in July 1841, when the cost of the upkeep of roads was diverted to the rates.
Once the factories began to grow up alongside the canal, Broad Street became much busier. The factory workers lived near to the factories, but the factory owners who were becoming wealthy businessmen, could afford transport and so lived away from the noisy, polluting factories.
Broad Street became known as the Gateway to Edgbaston as wealthy businessmen travelled along it to their residences in healthy Edgbaston and Worcestershire. The Town Council looked after the street and it became one of the first tree-lined streets in 1876 with the planting of 100 trees.
Many of the large houses along Hagley Road were built with stables for the horse or pony and trap to be kept and many of these buildings are still standing today. Many of the factories also had arched entrances large enough for the horses and the carts and carriages to get through.
Horse buses were popular until 1903 when faster, more efficient motorbuses began to take over. As the town of Birmingham expanded, more people lived in the suburbs and travelled into the centre by bus or bicycle.
By 1900 there were 450 cycle manufacturers in Birmingham. One of the most well known was the Quadrant Cycle Company on Sheepcote Street.
An 1895 report stated that the business had obtained a worldwide reputation for excellence of design and manufacture. Quadrant cycles won medals at events in Toulouse, France; Chicago, USA; Melbourne, Australia; Kimberley, South Africa and throughout India.
By 1895 experimental cars were being designed and tested by people such as Lancaster and Austin. Herbert Austin was at this time an employee of The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company on Broad Street.
He worked on his prototype car in a shed at the rear of the premises - near to the church on the corner of Oozells Street. He worked with Mulliner, a well-known carriage manufacturer (see page 63) to improve the tyres. He moved to a site in Longbridge and the rest is history!
Motorbuses travelled along Broad Street but electric trams were never installed in the road. Trams were seen as a noisy form of transport and local businessmen successfully organised a petition to stop Broad Street being used as a tram route.
Gradually more and more motorbuses came into use and the Birmingham and Midland Motor Minibus Company Limited, which later became known as Midland Red, opened a garage in Tennant Street, near Five Ways. Midland Red opened a garage on Sheepcote Street in 1951. It was large enough for 70 buses and was said to have the largest Belfast style arched roof in Europe. The garage was demolished in 1988.
By the late 1950's Five Ways was becoming very congested and was one of the City's largest bottlenecks. A plan to solve the problems led to the building of the underpass and roundabout, which opened in 1971.
Now the junction is once again a bottleneck and there has been a suggestion that another underpass should be built.
The other end of Broad Street has also seen many changes.
The City Council first considered an Inner Ring Road in the 1920's but by the outbreak of World War II there were no dual carriageways on the immediate approaches to the city.
In 1944 a report recommended its construction at a cost of 15 million. A Parliamentary Bill approved the plan and on 8 March 1957, after long negotiations over tenders, the work began. The Inner Ring Road was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen on 7 April 1971. For the pedestrian, the Inner Ring Road has always been a major obstacle; too many subways meant it was unpopular. In 1987 it was decided that the pedestrian should have priority over the traffic and a ?3 million scheme to lower the roadway at the Broad Street junction was begun and a pedestrian bridge opened up the area for people walking from the library complex into Broad Street. The bridge link now provides a major pedestrian route from Brindleyplace to the city centre.
Living Conditions & Housing
In 1908 the following report appeared in the magazine produced by the church in St. Martin's Street near Five Ways.
There was a dense population of 70,000 surrounding the church and the writer described the living conditions of the people in the locality.
"Their population is of a most mixed character, but its variety is its recommendation. We hope that beautiful Edgbaston, with its charm and wealth, will ever provide us with leaders and workers. Ladywood, lying north, contains a big army of artisans; city-wards are the Shopkeepers; and east and southeast stretches one of the poorest and dreariest districts of the city. This is the land we look upon and desire to progress for our Lord; These are the people we wish to win to his obedience; and here are the stricken and the sorrowing we desire to save with this presence." It continued...
"We have also a large proportion whose earnings scarcely provide their livelihood - women whose work of carding and packeting of hooks and eyes and buttons brings them only from 3s 6d to 4s per week, men who at their sweated industries are as miserably paid." "There is heavy drinking among men and women; and gambling is a terrible evil in our midst. Crime is all too common, and certain neighbourhoods have an unenviable notoriety for dog stealers and railway thieves. In court and alley and slum lurk the twin evils of destitution and vice, of want and woe."
"The young people appeal to us with all the pathos of their helplessness. The streets around are alive with children upon whom we must put our hands. Many are tainted from their birth, neglected morally and physically, and can have no chance of useful citizenship, save that which is offered through the Church's influence."
Housing on Brindleyplace
Low quality back-to-back terraced housing off Sheepcote Street i.e. Court 4 and Islington Place. This site became a bus garage. Larger houses are found on the west side of Cumberland Street with their gardens backing onto the Turkish Baths. This site later became part of Bush House, the Housing Department's offices.
Islington Place, off Sheepcote Street
Islington Place contained 12 houses with 61 people, an average of 5 per household at the time of the 1881 Census. These were poor working class homes. The occupation of the head of the households included stone bricklayer, carter and furniture packer.
Cumberland Street
The houses on Cumberland Street, although located near to the industrial premises, were larger than those of Islington Place. Each house also had a large garden. Wealthier people occupied these. The occupations of the head of the households included a dressmaker, commercial clerk and bookseller. The occupation of other residents included a schoolmistress, bank clerk, master confectioner and photographer. The Christian Science Church
The first brick was laid on 25 July 1848 and it opened as a Presbyterian Church in 1849. It was erected by J.R. Botham in an Italian architectural style. It is thought that there have never been windows on external walls, the buildings light source coming from the skylights in the roof.
It is locally known as the black brick church but is built of blue railway brick. The church became the Second Church of Christ Scientist and later housed a Christian Science Reading Room. It became a listed building in 1980.
Our Water Supply
King Edward and his Queen, Alexandra, officially opened Birmingham University in July 1909. The Royal visitors travelled in an open top carriage through the city and their route took in Broad Street.
The Water Department, then occupiers of the Brasshouse, erected an arch across Broad Street celebrating the success of the Elan Valley Water Scheme, which enabled a continuous supply of water to pipe 73 miles from Wales to Birmingham.
The lettering on the arch included Our Water Supply graciously opened by Your Majesties July 1904. The scheme was based on an idea by Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914).
Oozells Street School
Oozells Street Board School was one of the first Board Schools set up in Birmingham following the 1870 Education Act. A large stone 1877 is visible on the façade facing Oozells Street and a similar 1877 is marked on the timbers on the side facing the National Indoor Arena.
The School opened in 1878 and had accommodation for 812 pupils. A temporary school nearby had been opened in 1874 and this closed when Oozells Street Board School was opened.
In 1889 Oozells Street Board School became the George Dixon Higher Grade School replacing a school in Bridge Street. The George Dixon School was partly an elementary and partly a Science School. It closed in 1906 when the George Dixon School moved to the site it presently occupies on City Road.
Post 970 Development Along Broad Street
The land along Broad Street between Five Ways and the City was partially occupied by the remains of the declining manufacturing industries, typical of the inner city, with much low grade, semi-derelict industrial properties.
It was this area of land that the City chose for the site of the International Convention Centre, which would eventually transform the area from semi-derelict to state of the art business facilities.
The decision to build the International Convention Centre was aimed at regenerating the Inner City by investing in "Business Tourism" to replace the declining manufacturing industry.
The promotion of Birmingham as an International City was part of the strategy to change the image of the City and to create a business + leisure sector in this part of Birmingham. The area on which the International Convention Centre stands was cleared in 1987 and building work led to the opening of the International Convention Centre in 1991.
It contains eleven large halls, which are used for conventions or conferences, held by business organisations from all over the world. The building opened for business on 2 April 1991 with an official opening by Her Majesty the Queen on 12 June 1991.
?Hall 2 at the International Convention Centre is know as Symphony Hall and is the most up-to-date concert hall in the world.
?- The largest convention hall has 1500 seats.
?- The 1180 million building was mainly paid for by the City Council.
?- The European Development Fund contributed £50 million.
The most prestigious events so far held at the International Convention Centre include the International Olympic Committee Congress, the Euro Summit and most recently the G8 Summit. Businessmen staying overnight in Birmingham contribute to the economy of the city. This has led to the expansion of hotels in the area, which, in turn, brings an increase in employment opportunities area.
For example, over 600 jobs were created at the five main hotels - the Hyatt Regency, Swallow, The Wharf, The Square and The Terrace. Detractors say that many of the hotel related jobs are fairly low paid and much of the office employment comes from companies who have relocated to the area and therefore not created new employment; nevertheless, the unemployment rate in the area is falling.
By 1990 the largest remaining area of derelict land was that which became Brindleyplace. The site had been cleared and was ready for redevelopment.