Postcard From Birmingham, Part Eight

Puffins will be devasted to read this is the last episode of Postcard From Birmingham. But thrilled to hear myself and Mrs AWS have been saving up our pennies and coordinating our days off to arrange another trip. Much of the heavy lifting is complete. I’ve fought with the apps and been able to book a day off work – well in advance. Travelling off-peak, purchasing the tickets early and using our Two Together cards (known as Albanian gangster cards due to our unflattering photos) means the prices are extortionate rather than life-changing.

The problem with living at the northernmost quarter of the main line is that by the time a train reaches us from the South, it’s out of food. Plus, there’s not far enough for us to go northwards to eat and drink the fare in complimentaries. To Edinburgh or Glasgow from our house is only one and a bit hours. Boo. The first time I went to Istanbul by rail it took two weeks, although I did go a funny route and managed to squeeze in a lap of Peloponnia – a tall tale for another time.

So, we’re heading south. I won’t say anymore in case I spoil the surprise. To take more sting out of the price, I reckon writing these articles makes the tickets tax deductible. We, like The Donald next Tuesday, just keep on winning. Added to which, the ticket machine at the station behaved itself for once. The collection reference was distinct from the booking reference which made it easier to type the right number in. Why is everything so complicated? Also, I’ve enrolled with the Avanti Refund Club. With a bit of luck and with us being leisure travellers (despite the business deductibles) we shall pray for mega-delays and a big refund. Living the dream.

As for our previous trip to Birmingham, Puffins find myself and my wife standing on the lowest balcony of Birmingham Library facing south. Directly opposite us and the adjacent Baskerville House is Arena Central, a 9.2-acre mixed-use development.

From the left, starting with the tallest building visible, we see the Alpha Tower, a Grade II listed office building. Designed by the local-born architect George Marsh this was the headquarters of Lew Grade’s commercial television company ATV and part of the company’s production studio complex known as ATV Centre. Upon the licence-to-print-money franchises being shuffled about, ATV closed in 1982, after which the building became offices. At 330ft, as of 2023, it was the eighth-tallest building in the city and became the second-tallest office building in Birmingham after 103 Colmore Row (354 ft) topped out in 2020.

To the right sits the HSBC building. As 1 Centenary Square, this 10-story, 210,000-square-foot block serves as the headquarters for HSBC UK and houses its retail and commercial banking operations. Opened in 2018, a modern, angular glass façade ‘reflects the city’s ambition to blend contemporary architecture with its historical backdrop’. The building is also one of the first in Birmingham to be awarded a BREEAM Excellent rating. BREEAM being the bureaucracy used to specify and measure the sustainability performance of buildings, ensuring that projects meet all kinds of gobbledygook politically correct nonsense.

According to themselves, ‘BREEAM Infrastructure (formerly CEEQUAL) is the evidence-based sustainability assessment, rating and awards scheme for civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping and public realm projects. We enable the achievement of high environmental, social and governance performance for infrastructure.’ Although it is never mentioned, this is the kind of tripe that makes HS2, especially the stations, so expensive.

The HSBC building offers flexible workspaces, cutting-edge technology, and a collaborative environment and is highlighted as a shift in the UK banking landscape to make Birmingham and other provincial cities key players in the financial services sector. However, still small fry compared to London, as evidenced by comparison to the HSBC Tower at London Docklands’ 8 Canada Square.

Completed in 2002, this 45-story skyscraper serves as HSBC’s global headquarters. Standing at 656ft, the building features a similar façade as 1 Centenary Square. Designed by architects Norman Foster and Partners, the tower houses over two thousand employees, supporting HSBC’s international banking and financial operations.

Its location in Canary Wharf once placed it at the heart of London’s finance sector but dark clouds gathered over Docklands when the bank signalled its intention to move closer to the City of London. If Canary Wharf is too far from where it’s happening in the capital, then what chance have Birmingham and other provincial locations?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the HSBC Tower in Hong Kong, known as the HSBC Main Building, is an iconic skyscraper located in Central, the city’s financial heart. Completed in 1985 it was again designed by Norman Foster. In a different style to its Engish contemporaries, the 47-story building was a groundbreaking feat of modern architecture with a modular design and lack of internal supporting columns.

Puffins familiar with the former colony (and if I remember correctly) will be aware the 586ft-tall building is tucked between St John’s Cathedral and the old French Mission on what, prior to bigly land recamation, used to be the waterfront.

It sits on the site of previous HSBC corporate HQs. The original was constructed in 1886 as a grand, neoclassical structure designed by architect Clement Palmer. It featured imposing columns and a distinct façade that reflected the then Victorian architectural style. The building served as HSBC’s headquarters until demolished in 1933 to make way for a more modern structure which was itself replaced by the ‘Foster’. In a further sign of changed times, the present tower is dwarfed by the distinctive multi-triangular-styled 70-story Bank of China which opened in 1990.

Back in Birmingham, to the right of the HSBC building sits The Birmingham Exchange. Built in the 1930s as the Municipal Bank, this imposing structure was by renowned architect Thomas Cecil Howitt. It exemplifies a classical/neoclassical style, featuring grand columns and a robust, symmetrical façade which underscores Birmingham’s industrial and civic pride in that era. In recent years, the building has been transformed, is now called The Exchange and serves as a hub for the University of Birmingham, which acquired the building to create a space for events, exhibitions and community activities.

As for the original Municipal Bank, this was a savings bank created as the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank by a 1916 Act of Parliament on a temporary basis and replaced by the Birmingham Municipal Bank in 1919. In 1976, it converted into a Trustee Savings Bank. Unlike most major cities, Birmingham had no savings bank before the formation of the Municipal after the original Birmingham TSB closed in the 1860s. The idea for an alternative savings medium came from Neville Chamberlain.

Behind the Exchange, we see a structure with hexagonal windows. This is a government building meant to house over three thousand public servants in the West Midlands from HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions as the government ‘continues its drive to modernise its office estate and deliver growth to every corner of the UK.’

Apparently, there is such a thing as a ‘Government Hubs Programme’, which will reduce the number of isolated and under-used offices that the government has by co-locating departments in shared buildings across the UK. Departments moving to hubs will need less space as they adopt smart working principles, which will reduce their operating costs. I bet.

Poking out to the right of the Government buildings and above the Exchange is Centenary Plaza on Holliday Street. One of the most desired residential developments in the city, this is a secured facility with concierge and onsite gym. A two-bedroom flat with lounge/kitchen will set you back £230,000.

Beside that, with the zigzaggy roof, is the Cube, a world-class destination and home to a vibrant mix of indulgent restaurants and bars, a luxury hotel and a boutique bowling alley. Yes, boutique bowling alley. The 24-storey mixed-use development by Ken Shuttleworth of Make Architects contains 244 flats, 111,500 square feet of offices and shops, a hotel and a skyline restaurant.

In picture three and to the far right is the 24-story Hyatt Regency Birmingham on Broad Street which stands at a height of 246 feet. Beneath the blue glass exterior are 319 guest rooms, built at a cost of £37 million, with £1.5 million of that being provided by the city, which also donated the site.

The hotel has close ties to the International Convention Centre, which sits opposite and parallel to Birmingham Library. A private-access bridge connects the two. Despite attracting the G8 Summit in 1998 and the NATO Meeting of Defence Ministers in 2000, the Regency went into administration and had to be bought out by Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

Coming down to earth in many senses, the modest three-story buildings to the left of the Hyatt Regency house the Consulate of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Changed times indeed.
 

© Always Worth Saying 2024