East side Birmingham regeneration

Related Links

• Birmingham Curzon HS2 Masterplan
• Eastside City Park Development Update
• Planning Facts & Figures
• Development Updates Main Page

Eastside is home to the largest physical regeneration project in Birmingham. It is transforming, revitalising and regenerating a previously neglected area of the city centre through multi-billion pound investment by a wide range of organisations and businesses.

Key Facts

• The Big City Plan designates 170 hectares/420 acres of Eastside as an "Area of Transformation"
• Eastside City Park is the first major new park in the city centre in 130 years
• Millennium Point has over 1million visitors a year and is home to the Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum
• Aston University, Birmingham City University (BCU), Ormistion Academy and Birmingham Metropolitan College create a hub of educational excellence
• The former ticket hall of Curzon Street Station is the oldest surviving monumental railway structure in the world and is a Grade I Listed Building
• Birmingham Science Park Aston is a 22 acre campus focussed on innovation-led knowledge based businesses
• The Warwick Bar Conservation Area surrounds the Digbeth Branch Canal

Why are we regenerating Eastside?

We first identified the potential of Eastside in the late 1990s and have worked in partnership with public and private sector organisations to enable change and encourage investment in new businesses, job creation, cultural, leisure and educational facilities, and new residential communities.

Our planning and regeneration activity has established Eastside as Birmingham's learning and technology quarter - providing a unique focus for promoting and enabling development that provides local people with learning and employment opportunities.

The regeneration of Eastside will also allow the physical and economic growth of the business and leisure activities of the city core by integrating the quarter into the city’s successful network of public squares, spaces and streets through high quality urban design.

Proposals to develop the High Speed 2 railway, with a terminal in Eastside, will create greater opportunities for the ongoing regeneration of the quarter.

The Story So Far...

• 1996 - Digbeth Millennium Quarter Plan (superseded by the Big City Plan) first identified the potential for change within the area.
• 1998 - Compulsory Purchase Order approved for Millennium Point.
• 2001 - Eastside Development Framework (superseded by the Big City Plan) established the “learning and leisure” focus for the quarter.
• 2001 - Millennium Point was opened.
• 2004 - Demolition of Masshouse Circus removed the “concrete collar” barrier to the physical expansion of the city core – unlocking the potential of Eastside.
• 2005 - Construction began on the first residential phase of the Masshouse development.
• 2006 - A joint venture was signed with Advantage West Midlands, the former regional development agency, in order to purchase and prepare land for redevelopment.
• 2007 - A Compulsory Purchase Order was approved in order to assemble sites and deliver the land for redevelopment.
• 2008 - Eastside Locks development gains planning consent.
• 2010 - High Speed 2 (HS2) railway plan announced by the Government.
• 2010 - The Big City Plan identifies Eastside as an “Area of Transformation”.
• 2011 - The Birmingham Ormiston Academy, Masshouse Hive development and Eastside Multi-storey Car Park open.
• 2011 - The Eastside Masterplan is launched.( no longer being pursued)
• 2012 - Hotel La Tour opens.
• 2013 - Birmingham City University opens the first phase of their city-centre campus, with a new building for the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design
• 2013 - The Second Phase of Birmingham City University begins on site.
• 2014 - Curzon HS2 The Birmingham Master Plan Launches.