Descending from the bridge adjacent to The Cube along the ramp to gently arrive onto the towpath, and continue the one mile walking route that was established by the development of the Mailbox, the left bank of the Birmingham Canal Old Line, with its converted Victorian buildings, feels like walking through an old area of the city, looming up beyond the rooftops is the home of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), a distinctive barrel vault building, a former lead works artfully refurbished by Associated Architects. Glazed panels, stack bonded buff brickwork set in a Miesian black metal frame form the southern façade, backlit in a cool glow as it falls into the shadow of the setting sun, its ochre coloured Cotswold stone eastern façade retained from the original 1921 building, seamlessly integrated into the new build, giving the impression of an old building restored as opposed to façade retention to create a stage set.
Standing directly opposite on Holliday Street is the new Registry Office, a composition of planes in cream coloured terracotta rainscreen cladding, no doubt picking up from its neighbour, dark grey metal frames, seemingly intending to stand out from red of the urban plane. Walking along the towpath past the pubs and cafes situated in the Victorian canal side buildings gives an air of authenticity to the waterfront. On the opposite bank, attention is once again drawn to the Premier Inn, part of a national chain of budget hotels, situated in a five storey red brick imitation of its Victorian neighbours, demonstrates the banality of the 1980s approach to modern architecture, where in the era of post-modernism the approach was to build cheap imitations of historic buildings as opposed to developing an architecture contemporary to its time, and as a result feels like an object that is frozen in the wrong time period. The sense of displacement is further emphasized by the twenty one-storey white concrete and graphite panel composition accommodating close to four hundred apartments and hotel that is Centenary Plaza, designed by Weedon Architects as phase one of Arena Central master-planned by HOK. The contrast between these two developments themselves clearly demonstrates the limitations of the 1980s approach to city planning compared with the 2000s. Although a distant memory of passing through Birmingham on a canal boat holiday in the summer of 1986, the Premier Inn building was new, surrounded by industrial decay, the ICC and the Hyatt were concrete structures slowly emerging from the ground, placing it at the start of Birmingham’s canal renaissance.
Continuing along the towpath towards Gas Street Basin, and arriving at Warwick bar, that historically separated the jurisdiction of two canal operators, the Tap and Spile pub is situated in the former toll house, and the lock that prevented canal carriers from passing through without paying a toll, is now an open narrow channel, crossing the cast iron bridge and onto the Warwick Bar which is still a lively environment, with canal boats moored along both sides, although not operated by canal carriers, these are private house boats and hired pleasure craft. On the right hand side of the bar Gas Street Basin, the boarded up pub, the James Brindley, a venue of many enjoyable gatherings with my fellow students now stands as a sad monument to the mock Victoriana of the 1980s, its glazed atrium with barrel vault roof reminiscent of scaled down version of Paxton’s Crystal Palace, but with glazing bars in dark green. Ready to be demolished and replaced, or just waiting for a new operator to move in and revive its fortunes? Who knows?
On the left hand side, Regency Wharf, depicted by the retro painted sign on the brickwork of the former glassworks, giving the place a sense of authenticity although only applied relatively recently. The canal leads to two dead ends that are bridged by the typical brick built hump-backed bridges, one leading to what was the loading dock for the glassworks, its dock filled in and now built over with a buff terracotta, and grey steel construction that accommodates bars and restaurants, added in 2002, designed by Level 7 Architects, that partially obscures the dated red brick imitation Victorian plant room to the Hyatt Hotel. The second bridge adjacent to the James Brindley, leads to the demolition site where the Central Television Studios once were, and in the master plan for Arena Central would connect to the lake that would become an ice rink in winter, the blanked off bridge also emphasises the extent to which industry once penetrated the city.
The towpath continues beneath the inhabited bridge of Broad Street, completely surrounded high brick walls, and bursts out into the evening light of Brindleyplace, where the reflections are completely still, the lights on the suspension bridge, the people sitting at tables outside the Pitcher and Piano enjoying the evening, and at the end of this waterside vista, the NIA now branded as the Barclaycard Arena, and what a transformation! Blank white and grey panels have been replaced by glass augmented by vertical copper fins, and life! What once felt like the service entrance to the arena is now a promenade lined with bars, restaurants and creates another venue to enjoy life in the city. Standing on the promenade, looking back at along the canal with its traffic island on the junction that separates the routes that lead to Worcester passing Brindleyplace, and to Warwick and eventually London, heading off to the left. Remembering standing in the exact same place on a cold day as a first year architecture student in late 1993, the city is unrecognisable, it is difficult not to be impressed by the regeneration that has taken place in the past quarter of a century. The grass bank behind the promenade fencing now occupied by a completed Brindleyplace, the then derelict brick buildings now fully restored, and very much part of the life of the city.
The back story is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble published by Xlibris — Do We Need ARCHITECTS?
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