Grand Central Opens

At 10am sharp the upward escalators were opened and the waiting crowd rose to the magnificent shopping and eating experience that is Grand Central. 

New Street Station Reborn

Yesterday, (Sunday 20 September), the revamped New Street Station opened successfully and delighted the many people who came especially to see it.

New Street Station & Grand Central Opening – Are they Ready?

As the opening of this £540m twin development nears, we take a look at the outside.
Will they be ready in time?

Road Restrictions in City Centre from 7 September

To ease the traffic volume around Grand Central during its opening the following “temporary” road restrictions will be introduced from Monday 7 September as reported by the Birmingham Mail.

Update on City Centre Projects Dates

The Committee (of the City Centre Neighbourhood Forum) has sought to discover the planned dates for completion of major infrastructure works around the City Centre.

New Street Station Cladding Restarted

Wandering passed New Street Station entrance in Stephenson Street last Saturday I was surprised to find that the contractors had restarted the fitting of the stainless steel cladding to the “eye” of the station entrance.

More Changes to New Street Station Project

Network Rail has given notice of changes to the original plans for the redevelopment of NewStreet Gateway station project.

Vision for Movement – one year on

A group of city partners, Centro, Birmingham City Council, National Express West Midlands, and the city centre’s four BIDs, launched a strategic plan – the Vision for Movement – a year ago in November 2010 to generate some ‘joined up’ thinking for getting around the city centre. On Wednesday morning, Nov 9, more than 100 key figures from the city’s business community attended the ‘Vision for Movement – One Year On’ briefing to hear how the last 12 months have seen high profile transport projects forge ahead. Two of your committee members were amongst this select gathering.

Plans Revealed to make Birmingham a “Connected City”

The 4 year plan to convert Birmingham into a Connected City is getting more and more publicity. A new website http://www.connectedcity.org.uk/ is in operation and is being improved daily, so it’s worth  paying return visits. This is really informative.

This is important and feed back on the ideas is needed to halp tailor the plans to what the people of Birmingham really want for their city and their personal needs. You can give your views via the above website by choosing More then Comment. Or click here to get to the form directly.

If you want more information or have questions do visit the Centro Exhibitions in Birmingham during the next month, starting on Saturday 26 March. For dates and locations see Dates for your diary.

Geoff Caine

Birmingham Transport Summit 2011

An update on Birmingham’s Vision for Movement was given by key people at the Council House on Tuesday this week (22 March 2011). Read my account of this.

Geoff Caine

Changes to city centre transport that will affect you

Birmingham City Council and Centro are proposing to change how transport links operate in the City centre area. These will be major changes, happening in a couple of years. Consultation and action are starting in the course of this year and we should be prepared to respond, as necessary.

Centro are creating a dedicated website at www.centro.org.uk/connectedcity giving lots of information about the proposals. However, as it isn’t ready yet – 22 March 2011 – I have written this provisional report using Centro’s material.

John Lewis to open store in revamped New Street Station

Announced today, John Lewis Partnership confirmed that it will be opening a store in New Street Station in 2014. This will bring 650 ne jobs to the city. The store will occupy part of the new atrium.

This is excellent news for jobs, shoppers and the city of Birmingham.

BBC News has more and relevant history.

Geoff Caine

Next Steps for New Street Station development

The soon to be 'deconstructed' Stevenson Tower by New Street Station

Forum committee member David Foster attended a progress briefing yesterday on the New Street station redevelopment.

One of the targets for end 2010 is to complete the ‘deconstruction’ of Stevenson Tower. ‘Demolition’ is a forbidden word for this activity – the building will be taken down piece by piece. There will be no wrecking ball or explosives used because its foundations are intimately bound up with the station structure.

The next platform to be closed off will be no. 12. Currently platform 1 is being rebuilt and should be opened during early 2011; thereafter platform 12 will be closed off. The platform refurbishment will proceed one-at-a-time.

Another target for end 2010 is to extend the access bridge at the Navigation Street end to cover the platforms not currently accessible to it.

Although the new station will have 8 entrances, it appears that in the minds of the station management the ‘main entrance’ for the new station will be that on the Station Street/Hill Street side. This will have long term implications for connections between Southside and the rest of the city centre, and also affect attitudes towards that area.

 

Birmingham Big City Plan and Transport Strategy – public meeting and consultation

Birmingham Big City Plan and Vision for Movement Transport Strategy

A chance for residents to get involved with how our city centre is run and will develop.

The Birmingham City Centre Neighbourhood Forum is holding a public meeting, including Big City Plan consultation workshops, on 24th November 2010 at 6:45pm in the Museum and Art Gallery Learning Zone.

At the end there will be an opportunity for city centre residents who wish to get even more involved with improving our city centre life to stand for election to the Neighbourhood Forum committee at our short AGM. We need volunteers!

Our guest speakers are:

Councillor Tim Huxtable, Cabinet Member for Transportation and Regeneration.

Gary Taylor, Chair of the Broad Street BID (Business Improvement District) and Joint Managing Director of Argent UK.

Richard Cowell, Big City Plan, Birmingham City Council.

Please come to the Great Charles Street entrance of the Museum and Art Gallery.

Read on for map, agenda, etc…

Vision for Movement – the future for transport in the City Centre

Will today, Thursday Nov 11 2010, prove a genuine milestone in the redevelopment of Birmingham City Centre?

New Street Station – Progress Report 1

Above photo from Birmingham Council Planning Application website

Work has been in progress on the revamp of New Street Station for several months now. So what are the visible signs?……

New New Street Station gets planning permission

Picture from birminghamnewsroom.com - the Council News site.

I  attended the Council Planning Committee Meeting on 4 February, and unknown by me beforehand, found item 7 on the agenda entitled “Stephenson Street, Navigation Street, Station Street (Land Bounded by), New Street Railway Station – 2009/05720/PA” . This in fact referred to the new New Street Station and meant that the application to develop this was to be voted on by the Committee of Councilors…….