Green light for £500m Paradise redevelopment

Plans to redevelop Paradise Circus, the area of the city centre that includes the Central Library, have been approved by Birmingham City Council, paving the way for the old library to be demolished.

The £500 million scheme, submitted by the developer Argent in July last year, was approved in December.

What is planned

The redevelopment will create up to ten new buildings, with around 170,000 square metres of space for shops, offices, leisure and cultural uses, as well as a hotel. The masterplan has been drawn up by Glenn Howells Architects.

The Paradise Circus roundabout will be remodelled, with new public squares and routes linking Chamberlain Square and Centenary Square, where the new Library of Birmingham opened in September.

The scheme is being funded through a joint venture between the city council and the BT Pension Scheme, managed by Hermes Real Estate, with Argent as development manager.

The conservatoire moves

To make way for the redevelopment, the Birmingham Conservatoire will move out of its home on Paradise Circus, where it has been based since the 1970s. A deal agreed this month will see Birmingham City University receive £29 million in compensation, including £12.4 million of council money, to pay for a new building for the conservatoire in Eastside.

Farewell to the Central Library

The approval means that the old Central Library, designed by John Madin and opened in 1974, is set to be demolished. The library closed in June, when its books and archives moved to the new Library of Birmingham.

The building has divided opinion. Its admirers regard its inverted ziggurat shape as a masterpiece of brutalist architecture, and English Heritage has twice tried to have it listed. But the council has long wanted it demolished, and the building has been granted immunity from listing.

A long history

The Paradise area has been part of the civic heart of Birmingham since the Town Hall was built in the 1830s. It was reshaped in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the inner ring road, with the Central Library and the School of Music built on an island in the middle of a roundabout.

The site was sold to Argent in 1999, and a planning application was submitted in July 2012.

What happens next

Work is expected to start with changes to the road layout and preparation of the site. The development will be built in phases over many years. Supporters say it will create thousands of jobs and help reconnect the city centre, while campaigners for the library say the city is losing an important part of its architectural heritage.