Snow Hill Masterplan October 2015 Contents Foreword 3 Contact Planning and Regeneration Economy Directorate Birmingham City Council Click: Introduction 4 E-mail: [email protected] Web: birmingham.gov.uk/snowhillmasterplan Call: The vision 8 Telephone: (0121) 303 3988 Visit: Office: 1 Lancaster Circus Birmingham Connectivity 12 B4 7DJ Post: PO Box 28 Birmingham B1 1TU Development 20 You can ask for a copy of this document in large print, another format or another language. We aim to supply what you need within ten working days. Delivery 28 Call (0121) 303 3988 If you have hearing difficulties please call us via Typetalk 18001 0121 303 3988 or e-mail us at the address above. Plans contained within this document are based upon Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Birmingham City Council. Licence number 100021326, 2015. contents / snow hill masterplan 2 Foreword 3 The Snow Hill district is home to some of the City’s most valuable assets. It includes the Colmore Business District which supports over 35,000 employees and is a vital part of the economic success of the City; Snow Hill Station which acts as a principle transport hub used by several thousand people a day, and fabulous examples of the City’s grand Victorian legacy with key institutional buildings lining Steelhouse Lane. Capitalising on these assets and maximising opportunities will be key to the continued success of the Snow Hill district and central to the ongoing prosperity of the City as a place to do business and visit. In order to strengthen its role we need to grow the area and target interventions to transform the environment and improve accessibility. The arrival of HS2 to the City Centre in 2026 will further fuel the area’s prominence as a key business destination. We have already seen the impact of HS2 on the district with the announcement by HS2 Ltd. to locate their Construction HQ at Two Snowhill creating an initial 1,500 jobs. This Masterplan has been produced to enhance the area’s assets and drive growth and regeneration activity, setting out a vision and key development principles for the district, shared with the Colmore Business District and major landowners. The redevelopment of Snow Hill Station, to create a world class transport hub akin to New Street Station; the transformation of the streets and spaces in the district creating an outstanding environment with £9.9m already committed to schemes; and the creation of St Mary’s Place, are just some of the major interventions set out in this Masterplan which will drive growth and create new focus and activity. Through this Masterplan it is envisaged that an additional 200,000sq.m of new office floor space, 4,000 new residential units and 10,000 jobs will be created. We are pleased to present the Snow Hill Masterplan, produced in partnership with the Colmore Business District as the vision for future transformation of the Snow Hill district. Sir Albert Bore Councillor Tahir Ali Leader Cabinet Member for Development, Birmingham City Council Transport and the Economy Birmingham City Council snow hill masterplan / foreword foreword / snow hill masterplan 4 Introduction 5 The Snow Hill district, within Birmingham’s City Centre, is identified in the Big City Plan as an Area of Transformation - a place where big changes are anticipated and where key development opportunities exist. The growth and revitalisation of the Status of the document The location Snow Hill district is central to the The Snow Hill Masterplan has City’s ongoing economic success been developed jointly with the The Snow Hill district forms a part and future growth prospects. Colmore Business District and of Birmingham’s City Centre Core, taking in the northern section of the Aston other key stakeholders in the area. University The area is a major hub for the It has also been informed by the Core between the civic hub in the business, professional and financial Snow Hill Interchange Plan (SHIP), west, the Learning Quarter in the services sector. It is home to undertaken on behalf of Centro, east, the Jewellery Quarter in the over 500 companies including Colmore Business District and north and Corporation Street and major international businesses Birmingham City Council, which St Phillip’s Churchyard in the south. which together occupy a total sets out a programme of projects St Chads of 500,000sq.m of office space to be delivered over a 15 year Snow Hill is a district of contrasts. Queensway and employ over 35,000 people. timeframe to improve interchange, Within a short walk the character St Pauls The Masterplan builds on this connectivity and economic shifts from the grand Victorian Square key strength plus the many other performance around Snow Hill streets around Colmore Row, significant assets in the area. Station. to the high rise commercial hub immediately to the east of The transport proposals within the Snow Hill Station and further The role of the Masterplan Masterplan sit in the context of east the cluster of fine High Steelhouse Lane The Snow Hill Masterplan sets Birmingham Connected, which is Victorian institutional buildings on out an approach to maximise Birmingham’s long term strategy for Steelhouse Lane. The outer edge Snow Hill the development of the Snow its transport system. Its vision is to of the district is dominated by the Station Hill district and transform its reinvent the system to meet current heavily trafficked A38 Queensway. Great Charles Street environmental quality and overall and future mobility challenges, and Millennium offer. Covering a 20 year period, to facilitate strong and sustainable Within the Masterplan boundary Point this Masterplan builds upon the economic growth. Measures there are a number of distinct vision and broad principles set include challenging the car culture, areas: out in the Big City Plan, providing significant investment in walking St Phillips a framework for the future and cycling, new mass transit routes Historic Colmore Colmore RowSquare development and transformation of such as Metro and Sprint - bus A grid of legible and well enclosed based rapid transit - and a radical the area. The Masterplan sets out streets containing a mix of historic Corporation Street the following: approach to the transformation of and contemporary commercial the A38. buildings and supporting uses. • A vision for the area including Paradise a series of Big Moves to bring The Masterplan will be a non- Circus about major transformation. statutory planning document High-Rise Commercial prepared in the context of the Part of the City’s central business New Street • A radical approach to improving principles and proposals of the district, this area is dominated by Moor Street connectivity covering public Birmingham Development Plan: modern glass, steel, and concrete Station transport, public realm and the statutory planning document office buildings on large plots walking and cycling. that provides the planning policy clustered around Colmore Circus n New Street NORTH Station Bullring framework and overarching and Snow Hill Queensway. This area NOT TO SCALE • Principles for redevelopment, strategy for the whole of the City. has been the focus for recent and incorporating a clear urban ongoing commercial development design framework; proposals for The Masterplan will help inform including the One and Two Snowhill KEY how the historic environment can future decisions on development developments and complementary Masterplan boundary Listed Buildings within be utilised and opportunities for and investment in infrastructure. retail uses. Masterplan boundary major investment including the Conservation Areas Locally Listed Buildings within area’s Enterprise Zone sites. Canal Masterplan boundary • A strategy for delivery. PLAN 1 Masterplan area and historic context snow hill masterplan / introduction introduction / snow hill masterplan Victorian Institutions The Colmore Row Conservation Wider City Centre 6 This cluster of grand historic Area forms the western portion 7 institutions forms a distinctive of the Masterplan area and context townscape, but has been subject covers the civic and commercial The Masterplan area is set within to some poor quality additions heart of Birmingham. The quality the context of the wider City and alterations. The cluttered, low and diversity of its architecture, Centre and has boundaries with the grade streetscape detracts greatly particularly that of the late following areas: from the buildings themselves and nineteenth and early twentieth Civic Core the area feels cut off from the rest centuries, reflects Birmingham’s Victoria Square is the City’s of the City Centre Core. development from a prosperous primary public space, surrounded market town to a great provincial by landmark historic buildings city and the area contains a number The A38 Queensway which make up the City’s civic Gun Quarter The A38 is an important vehicular of buildings of exceptional interest heart. The area will see a major link route but a major scar in the and national importance. redevelopment with the Paradise city fabric, difficult to cross and with The Steelhouse Conservation scheme following the relocation of poor quality spaces and buildings Area takes in the eastern portion the library to Centenary Square. alongside it. Its width, traffic speed of the Masterplan