Birmingham’s Boulevard

Paul Scott of Make Architects looks at the opportunity to revive Corporation Street

Birmingham’s Corporation Street was designed as a boulevard. Influenced by Haussmann’s work in Paris in the 1800s the aim was to have a road that clearly accommodated traffic as well as promenading; clear areas for both were created with wide footways, demarcated by a sensibly sized and spaced trees that provided a rhythm to the street and bounded a central area reserved for traffic. Birmingham’s boulevard connected the fabulous Victorian Law Courts designed by Sir Aston Webb and Ingress Bell in 1887 and New Street Station, which at the time was a far different building to the 1960s design that now occupies the site.

The Retail Birmingham Business Improvement District (BID) through its design strategy – Creating a Spectacular Shopping Environment – is analysing the current function of Corporation Street and the issues that are hindering its role as Birmingham’s primary north /south axis and frustrating retail activity on its western side.

Corporation Street Birmingham by Zander Olsen , Make Architects

The closure of a number of established shops can’t be solely attributed to the economic situation and our analysis is taking into consideration a number of other issues including the impact of the quantity of buses and the changes that would occur if the extension of the Metro system – effectively a tram – redirected them away from Corporation Street.

One of the key questions we have been asking is ‘How do people navigate from House of Fraser to Harvey Nichols and the canals beyond?’ So many people gave different answers which seemed strange when on a map there is an obvious route that would lead people around the edge of New Street Station. In reality, this route is a sequence of disjointed and unpleasant connections.

How do people navigate from House of Fraser to Harvey Nichols?

 One proposal to resolve this situation would be to extend Corporation Street, both in name and in aesthetic, to provide a seamless pedestrian oriented link, free from buses, between Old Square in the north to The Mailbox, the canal network and the city’s fastest growing residential area that sits behind this.

What do you think? With the forthcoming redevelopment of New Street station should we take this opportunity to improve its surrounding public realm too? And what is your view of the buses on Corporation Street. Should a tram replace them?