Great cover-up is ‘own goal’, claims architect
ACITY architect says erecting giant banners advertising the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is an “own goal”.
When planning permission was granted for the giant banners covering the Ringway Centre on Smallbrook Queensway, one councillor who voted in favour of the plan even claimed they would be ‘visible from space’.
The move has totally transformed the sweeping curve of the inner Ring Road which now mostly only serves the Bullring car park and New Street’s taxi rank.
But leading city architect and commentator Joe Holyoak has condemned the move by Birmingham City Council.
Mr Holyoak said: “I regard it as an own goal. If you were coming to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, Smallbrook Queensway is one of the parts that should be shown with pride, not wrapping it up and concealing it.
“The council doesn’t understand the worth of public space so every time we create one, like Centenary Square, we have to fill it with something else like the Commonwealth Games ‘Megastore’.
“The need of a public space where people can freely congregate is undervalued.”
On the council as a whole, Mr Holyoak said he now viewed it as some kind of “black box” that made you wonder ‘where is the master vision?’
A longtime supporter of the campaign to save Moseley Baths in Balsall Heath, Mr Holyoak added: “Decisions are being taken not within any kind of guiding strategy and there is a fetish about height as though it has some kind of special status irrespective of any other urban standout quality.
“The applause given to every other building, just because it’s higher, is extraordinary. One would hope there would be some kind of plan for the way the skyline looks.”
Mr Holyoak and others last week criticised new plans to to demolish the iconic Ringway Centre, and replace it with yet more towering blocks of flats.
Developer CEG wants to construct three huge towers containing around 1,800 units to rent, along with shops and
public squares.
But it would see the demolition of the existing curved block which was designed by James Roberts, the man behind Birmingham’s famous Rotunda.
In April, Cllr Martin Staker Welds (Lab, Moseley) spoke of his support for the large banner.
He said: “I can’t help but feel that such an advertisement is justified.
“Yes, you will be able to see it from outer space. Yes, you’ll be able to see it at night, but it will actually echo the theme of the games. Be Bold, Be Birmingham.”
A week later, and after more than a decade on the council, Cllr Straker Welds lost his seat to the Lib Dems in the May 5 local elections.
Smallbrook Queensway is one of the parts that should be shown with pride, not wrapping it up and concealing it. Joe Holyoak