Battle to survive
ing measures,” she told the Post. “We’ve worked in collaboration with the other BIDs to deliver marketing campaigns, such as Birmingham is Back, which focused on the reopening of the city centre.
“It has been, and will continue to be, a huge team effort to get our city open again. We have a huge task on our hands to support the sustainability of one of the most vibrant and popular areas of the city.”
Mr Olley is similarly upbeat about the prospects for Broad Street and the Westside area.
“I can feel investors circulating the area looking for opportunities which I know are there,” he concluded.
“Investment will create regeneration and that will take advantage of a changing dynamic, with a reduction in demand for office space replaced by an expansion of city centre living and with better transport links, like the Metro extension, supporting that.”
Perhaps, the prevailing sentiment about the changing landscape in a post-Covid world is how people, employers, city planners and politicians have been forced to accept, and embrace, change.
Attitudes towards crucial issues such as flexible working, commuting and how we use public space are now at the forefront of the agenda. In an area which has already seen unprecedented investment over the past two decades, Mr Crane says there will be more to come in the Jewellery Quarter as its population is set to grow by up to 3,000 as a result of new residential developments.
“We’re very optimistic about opening the Jewellery Quarter up further to increase footfall by creating pedestrian precincts and a café culture through spill out from local venues,” he said. “We’ve also begun conversations with the local authority on road closures and in the future would love to see these materialise.
“One of the positives of the current situation is the local authority and other strategic bodies are beginning to seriously think about the way our city is utilised by its residents and workers.”