Eastside
Eastside embodies Birmingham’s ambitions for the 21st century - a place that blends high-quality urban design with the area’s historic landmarks and conservation areas; a place of local, regional, national and international significance and a place that enables local people to access the global opportunities provided by developing industries and creative activities.
Launched in 1999, and followed by the demolition of Masshouse Circus and the development of the Bullring shopping centre, Eastside is the largest physical regeneration project in Birmingham, comprising 170 hectares (420 acres).
It is transforming and regenerating the neglected areas of Eastside, Digbeth and Deritend through multi-billion pound investment by a wide range of organisations and businesses.
As Birmingham’s new learning, technology and heritage quarter, Eastside is where business, art and the environment come together; connecting local communities with the city centre, and investors with developments that will boost the economic and social wellbeing of the city.
Over the last 20 years Birmingham City Council has worked with its partners and other stakeholders to regenerate Birmingham, setting new standards in urban development, and improving how it feels to live and work here – creating a world-class city for everyone.
As a key component in this renaissance, Eastside is developing the city’s forward-thinking legacy and Birmingham’s status as a great international city, to provide a focus for urban innovation, social and cultural diversity, as well as creative and educational achievements. It will result in more than 12,500 jobs being created during the lifetime of the initiative.
Eastside is also a key aspect of the city’s Big City Plan, a pioneering masterplan that will shape and revitalise Birmingham’s city centre over the next 20 years. The plan will create a new integrated vision and direction for the city centre, guiding the city’s economic, social, physical, cultural and environmental future.
Eastside brings together public and private sector organisations to invest in Eastside's potential to encourage growth in learning, technology and knowledge-based facilities, while conserving the area's heritage.
Sustainability
The investment in Eastside is underpinned by a commitment by the city council and its partners to put sustainable development at the heart of the project, making it an exemplar of sustainable best practice.
Sustainability is fundamental to the Eastside concept, an integral part of the philosophy and activities that determine the quarter’s progress, which includes the proposed restoration of canals, adjacent buildings and the construction of mixed-use developments. It is a major factor in Eastside City Park, Birmingham’s first major city centre urban park for more than 100 years. The spine of the park will give local people the opportunity to walk or cycle through this space and enjoy the inspiring environment; a network of surrounding green roofs will recreate wildlife habitats and provide educational resources and inspiration to schools and community groups.
These initiatives will act as benchmarks for developers, planners, practitioners and decision-makers.
Eastside City Park
Eastside City Park will play an important role in the regeneration and development of Eastside. A major space in the city centre, comprising 3.2 hectares (8 acres), it will create a vital link between the city core, Eastside and surrounding communities.
Birmingham City Council is working with a wide range of partners to develop the park, which will double the amount of open space in the city centre, create a gateway space and a major visitor attraction. The park will be a new, accessible heart for Eastside, contributing significantly to the redevelopment of the area by influencing the quality of surrounding developments, accelerating and promoting investment in the area.
The park will encourage people to live and work in the area, to visit the city or pass through the park space.
The park will foster the understanding that Eastside and Digbeth are integral parts of the city centre.
Eastside City Park will provide Birmingham people with better life chances than before, with the creation of new jobs in the surrounding developments, and an improved quality of life. It will enhance the image of the city locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Where is Eastside?
Eastside is located immediately to the east of Birmingham city centre, in the area between the Bullring and Lawley Middleway, and from Dartmouth Circus in the north to Bordesley Circus in the south. It includes Aston University, a number of Birmingham City University campuses, Matthew Boulton College, and South Birmingham College. In addition the area is home to a number of historic buildings.
The Eastside vision seeks to expand the city centre eastwards from the established retail and entertainment core, to revive and regenerate areas affected by the economic downturns of previous decades and the restraints imposed by the inner ring road (the ‘concrete collar’), filling in subways and creating a pedestrian-friendly environment.
The project area also contains a number of sites central to the historic development of Birmingham as an industrial centre (for example, the River Rea and Curzon Street Railway Station) and a focus for innovative and creative practice, such as The Custard Factory.
Why are we regenerating Eastside?
In addition to the groundbreaking prospects presented by the area for far-seeing developers and investors, Eastside will provide citizens with learning, real growth in employment opportunities and enhance Birmingham’s international standing.
Eastside City Park and new developments will also create links between surrounding communities and the heart of the city. The project will extend the city centre and its successful network of public squares, spaces and streets, developing a dynamic new quarter that is home to landmark developments, two conservation areas and a number of historic sites.
Eastside will also signal Birmingham’s ambitions as a global city with key developments, pioneering projects, visionary architects – allied to a commitment to enhance the quality of life and opportunities available to local people, while boosting the local and regional economies.
Who will benefit?
Investors will be able to develop innovative projects within a creative, leading edge environment, supported by one of the UK’s most dynamic economies.
Local people will have access to the new Eastside City Park, new residential developments and businesses, and the creation of new jobs and training opportunities.
Workers will enjoy modern facilities in the heart of a major international city, with all the connections, leisure options and career opportunities this affords.
Visitors to the city will be able to experience quality leisure attractions, such as Millennium Point and VTP200 – the proposed vertical theme park and enjoy a range of facilities in the mixed-use developments throughout Eastside.
Major investments and new developments
Eastside is a focus for major investments and new activities, complementing existing institutions (for example, educational bodies) and new developments like Ventureast, Masshouse, Martineau Galleries and City Park Gate.
In March 2006, Birmingham City Council and Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency, signed a joint venture to transform the area and create thousands of new jobs. This groundbreaking partnership is delivering and preparing the land for major schemes in Eastside, such as Eastside City Park, Ventureast, alongside the learning and leisure quarter. In 2007, Goodman was appointed as development partner for Ventureast.
Learning quarter
Eastside is home to a range of educational establishments, including Aston University and expanded facilities for Aston Business School and the Academy of Life Sciences, a number of Birmingham City University faculties, Matthew Boulton College, the New Technology Institute and South Birmingham College.
The city recognises that it is important to attract and retain graduates within the city and Eastside provides an attractive environment in which they can study and pursue leisure opportunities, as well as develop their careers upon graduation, with a range of options available within this dynamic quarter.
The city council is working with central government and other agencies to develop an academy for the arts within the Eastside area, and this will increase the options available to young people within Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Heritage
Digbeth and Deritend played key roles in the development of Birmingham and the importance of these were recognised by Professor Michael Parkinson’s visioning study, which laid the foundation for the Big City Plan.
Their legacy is evident in the built environment that survives within Eastside, and initiatives like Eastside City Park and improvements to the public spaces and places within the area will acknowledge and draw on the city's distinctive heritage.
Developments in Eastside will demonstrate a commitment to conserve and improve the quality of the local environment with well-designed, attractive buildings, spaces, historic waterways and railway viaducts, with sustainability at the heart of the project.
Arts and culture
Arts and culture are important aspects of Eastside, providing means of expression for residents, artists and users of the city, as regeneration work improves the area. Eastside is home to a unique range of artists, designers and cultural practitioners who contribute significantly to the sense of place.
It is proposed that innovative and creative approaches that respect the past and Eastside's outstanding heritage will interact with developments to create a new context and positive identity for this part of the city.
Contacting the City Centre Development Team
For more information about the Eastside project, please contact the City Centre Development Team at:
18th Floor, The McLaren Building, 35 Dale End, Birmingham B4 7LN
Tel: +44 (0)121 464 0900