Working alongside Capita Lovejoy, we are pleased to say that Golden Square, one the first projects to be progressed as part of Birmingham City Council’s Big City Plan, has been submitted for planning approval.
Here’s the formal press release from Capita Lovejoy:
Designed by Capita Lovejoy – Capita Symonds’ landplanning division – the ‘Golden Square’ development will be at the heart of the city’s Jewellery Quarter which is home to more than 1500 businesses, 200 listed buildings, and produces over 40% of all the jewellery manufactured in the UK every year.
Capita Lovejoy is leading a design team which includes architects Bryant Priest Newman; public artists David Patten and Jenny Peevers; engineers Ramboll; lighting designers Light Bureau; and digital media consultants Substrakt.
The revamp is one of the first new projects in Birmingham City Council’s ‘Big City Plan’ which will see the city centre transformed over the next few years. The ‘Golden Square’ plans feature a concept whereby a series of “exposed seams” run like needles on a compass out towards the district’s traditional material sources and global trading partners such as the USA, Australia and South Africa. These highly reflective alignments shape the available space, manage the topography, and accommodate seating, lighting and fountains.
Suggested by the original street pattern, the new square is subdivided into three key spaces – the plaza, the orchard and the promenade. Taken together, these three spaces provide an essential place in the ‘daily round’ for existing and emerging local communities.
Already a designated conservation area, the Quarter is currently bidding for World Heritage status and has been described by English Heritage as a unique historic environment with few, if any, parallels in Europe.
We’re thrilled to be part of the team on this project and are looking forward to seeing it through to fruition.