1.
HM Land Registry
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Her Majestys Land Registry is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom, created in 1862 to register the ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It reports to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The equivalent office in Scotland is the Registers of Scotland, Land and Property Services maintain records for Northern Ireland. HM Land Registry registers the ownership of property and it is one of the largest property databases in Europe. At the peak of the property boom in 2007, £1 million worth of property was processed every minute in England, like land registration organisations in other countries, HM Land Registry guarantees title to registered estates and interests in land. It records the ownership rights of freehold properties, and leasehold properties where the lease has been granted for a term exceeding seven years, the definition of land can include the buildings situated upon the land, particularly where parts of buildings at different levels are in different ownership. It is also possible to register the ownership of the mines and minerals which lie within the ground, HM Land Registry receives no government funding, being required to ensure that its income covers expenditure, and finances itself from registration and search fees. It provides online access to its database of titles and most plans, people need to pay a fee to access some information. Property owners whose property is not registered can make voluntary applications for registration, as of March 2016, there are 24.5 million registered titles representing 88% of the land mass of England and Wales. According to HM Land Registry, Registering a title provides a Title Plan which is not definitive. It is important that the title deeds are retained as they will provide a starting point if ever it is necessary to identify the precise position of the boundaries. The government is using the land registry data to assess property values for tax purposes. HM Land Registry has 14 offices at, Birkenhead, Coventry, Croydon, Durham, Fylde, Gloucester, Kingston upon Hull, Leicester, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Swansea, Telford, HM Land Registrys Head Office is based in Croydon. The in-house IT department and Land Charges Departments are based in Plymouth, in 2006, as a result of a review of office accommodation, HM Land Registry announced the closure of several offices. This involved merging offices in Birkenhead, Durham, Lytham/Warton, Nottingham and Swansea, a further review of staffing levels and overall office space began in 2009. HM Land Registry announced proposals to five offices at Portsmouth, Tunbridge Wells, Croydon, Stevenage. The Head Office moved out of its famous Lincolns Inn Fields building in March 2011 and is now based in Croydon, the building has been purchased by the London School of Economics for a sum of £37.5 million. During the early part of 2011, staff based in the Plymouth office were relocated to the Information Systems office in Seaton Court, each local office has an Area Manager, a Local Land Registrar who is the senior lawyer, an Operations Manager, and an Integrity Manager. Each office also has responsible for processing applications lodged by members of the legal profession
2.
Telephone exchange
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A telephone exchange is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network or in large enterprises. In historical perspective, telecommunication terms have been used with different semantics over time, the term telephone exchange is often used synonymously with central office, a Bell System term. Often, an office is defined as a building used to house the inside plant equipment of potentially several telephone exchanges. Such an area has also referred to as the exchange. Central office locations may also be identified in North America as wire centers, All central offices within a larger region, typically aggregated by state, were assigned a common numbering plan area code. For corporate or enterprise use, a telephone exchange is often referred to as a private branch exchange. Smaller installations might deploy a PBX or key telephone system in the office of a receptionist and this made it possible for subscribers to call each other at homes, businesses, or public spaces. These made telephony an available and comfortable communication tool for everyday use, one of the first to propose a telephone exchange was Hungarian Tivadar Puskás in 1877 while he was working for Thomas Edison. The first experimental telephone exchange was based on the ideas of Puskás, the worlds first commercial telephone exchange opened on November 12,1877 in Friedrichsberg close to Berlin. George W. Coy designed and built the first commercial US telephone exchange opened in New Haven. The switchboard was built from carriage bolts, handles from teapot lids and bustle wire, Charles Glidden is also credited with establishing an exchange in Lowell, MA. with 50 subscribers in 1878. In Europe other early telephone exchanges were based in London and Manchester, Belgium had its first International Bell exchange a year later. In 1887 Puskás introduced the multiplex switchboard, later exchanges consisted of one to several hundred plug boards staffed by switchboard operators. Each operator sat in front of a panel containing banks of ¼-inch tip-ring-sleeve jacks. In front of the jack panel lay a horizontal panel containing two rows of patch cords, each connected to a cord circuit. When a calling party lifted the receiver, the loop current lit a signal lamp near the jack. The operator responded by inserting the rear cord into the jack and switched her headset into the circuit to ask, Number. For a local call, the operator inserted the front cord of the pair into the partys local jack
3.
Birmingham
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Birmingham is a major city and metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England lying on the River Rea, a small river that runs through Birmingham. It is the largest and most populous British city outside London, the city is in the West Midlands Built-up Area, the third most populous urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2,440,986 at the 2011 census. Birminghams metropolitan area is the second most populous in the UK with a population of 3.8 million and this also makes Birmingham the 8th most populous metropolitan area in Europe. By 1791 it was being hailed as the first manufacturing town in the world, perhaps the most important invention in British history, the industrial steam engine, was invented in Birmingham. From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. The damage done to the infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive demolition. Today Birminghams economy is dominated by the service sector and its metropolitan economy is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121. 1bn, and its six universities make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. Birmingham is the fourth-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors, Birminghams sporting heritage can be felt worldwide, with the concept of the Football League and lawn tennis both originating from the city. Its most successful football club Aston Villa has won seven league titles, people from Birmingham are called Brummies, a term derived from the citys nickname of Brum. This originates from the citys name, Brummagem, which may in turn have been derived from one of the citys earlier names. There is a distinctive Brummie accent and dialect, Birminghams early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centres of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible river valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon. The area of modern Birmingham lay in between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden. Birmingham as a settlement dates from the Anglo-Saxon era, within a century of the charter Birmingham had grown into a prosperous urban centre of merchants and craftsmen. By 1327 it was the third-largest town in Warwickshire, a position it would retain for the next 200 years, by 1700 Birminghams population had increased fifteenfold and the town was the fifth-largest in England and Wales. The importance of the manufacture of goods to Birminghams economy was recognised as early as 1538. Equally significant was the emerging role as a centre for the iron merchants who organised finance, supplied raw materials. The 18th century saw this tradition of free-thinking and collaboration blossom into the phenomenon now known as the Midlands Enlightenment
4.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
5.
Jewellery Quarter
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The Jewellery Quarter is an area of Birmingham, England. Situated in the south of the Hockley area of the city centre, there is a population of around 3,000 people in a 1. 07-square-kilometre area. The Jewellery Quarter is Europes largest concentration of businesses involved in the jewellery trade and it is also home to the worlds largest Assay Office, which hallmarks around 12 million items a year. Historically the Jewellery Quarter has been the birthplace of many pioneering advancements in industrial technology, at its peak in the early 1900s the Jewellery Quarter employed over 30,000 people, however due to foreign competition and lack of demand, the industry declined throughout the 20th century. The area is now being transformed into a village and hub for creative businesses. Its historical importance has led to numerous conservation schemes and it is an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage, a survey of 1553 named one of the first goldsmiths of Birmingham, Roger Pemberton. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Birmingham prospered from the Industrial Revolution and developed into an industrial town, manufacturing a vast range of products. Many large foundries and glassworks attracted workers from all areas of Britain, a considerable trade developed in the manufacture of gilt buttons, cap badges, pins and small metal toys. According to the Birmingham Directory of 1780, there were 26 jewellers at the time, because the definition of a jeweller was not explained in the directory, it is thought that it may contain many irregularities and the number of actual jewellers may be lower. It is thought that by the start of the 19th century, there were around 12 jewellery manufacturing companies, in 1746, the Colmore family released land on what is known as the Jewellery Quarter today to help satisfy the demands of an increasing population. The largest tract of land was Newhall which had purchased from the Manor of Birmingham by William Colmore. In 1560, it was described as a warren and by 1620. The large manor house gave its name to the area, by 1746, the Colmore family had moved out and let the manor to tenants. Beyond this, there were enclosed fields leading to Birmingham Heath, sandpits were located on Hockley Hill and the product of these pits was used for moulds which were used in the local metal casting industry. The area was crossed by three roads, the road from Wednesbury and Wolverhampton, which now consists of Constitution Hill, Great Hampton Street and Hockley Hill, was turnpiked in 1727. This was followed by the turnpiking of the road to Dudley, consisting of Summer Row, Parade and Summer Hill Road, both roads were heavily used by traders and carriages transporting raw materials from Staffordshire into Birmingham. The completion of the Birmingham Canal in 1769 led to the improvement of these roads, Warstone Lane, now Warstone Lane, Hall Street and part of Icknield Street, connected the Wolverhampton road to the Dudley road. Ladywood Road, which is now Ladywood Middleway, was connected to the area as a result of Warstone Lane
6.
Worcester
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Worcester is a city in Worcestershire, England,31 miles southwest of Birmingham and 27 miles north of Gloucester. The River Severn flanks the western side of the city centre, the Battle of Worcester was the final battle of the English Civil War, where Oliver Cromwells New Model Army defeated King Charles Is Cavaliers. Worcester is known as the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain, composer Edward Elgar, Lea & Perrins, makers of traditional Worcestershire sauce, the trade route past Worcester which later formed part of the Roman Ryknild Street dates to Neolithic times. The position commanded a ford over the River Severn and was fortified by the Britons around 400 BC and it would have been on the northern border of the Dobunni and probably subject to the larger communities of the Malvern hillforts. It may have been the Vertis mentioned in the 7th-century Ravenna Cosmography, using charcoal from the Forest of Dean, the Romans operated pottery kilns and ironworks at the site and may have built a small fort. In the 3rd century, Roman Worcester occupied an area than the subsequent medieval city. Industrial production ceased and the settlement contracted to a position along the lines of the old British fort at the river terraces southern end. This settlement is identified with the Cair Guiragon listed among the 28 cities of Britain by the History of the Britons attributed to Nennius. This is not a British name but an adaption of its Old English name Weorgoran ceaster, the Weorgoran were precursors of Hwicce and probably West Saxons who entered the area some time after the 577 Battle of Dyrham. The oldest known church was St Helens, which was certainly British, the town was almost destroyed in 1041 after a rebellion against the punitive taxation of Harthacanute. During this time, the relocated to the nearby Bevere Island,2 miles upriver. The following century, the town was attacked several times during The Anarchy, by late medieval times the population had grown to around 10,000 as the manufacture of cloth started to become a large local industry. The town was designated a county corporate, giving it autonomy from local government. Worcester was the site of the Battle of Worcester, when Charles II attempted to regain the crown, in the fields a little to the west and south of the city. Worcester had supported the Parliamentary cause before the outbreak of war in 1642 but spent most of the war under Royalist occupation. After the war it used its location as the site of the final battles of the First Civil War. As part of this and not based upon any historical fact, it invented the epithet Fidelis Civitas, in 1670, the River Severn broke its banks and the subsequent flood was the worst ever seen by Worcester. The closest flood height to what is known as The Flood of 1670 was when the Severn flooded in the rains of July 2007
7.
Wolverhampton
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Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 249,470, the demonym for people from the city is Wulfrunian. Historically part of Staffordshire, the city is named after Wulfrun, prior to the Norman Conquest, the areas name appears only as variants of Heantune or Hamtun, the prefix Wulfrun or similar appearing in 1070 and thereafter. Alternatively, the city may have earned its name from Wulfereēantūn after the Mercian King. The variation Wolveren Hampton is seen in records, e. g. in 1381. The city grew initially as a market town specialising in the woollen trade, in the Industrial Revolution, it became a major centre for coal mining, steel production, lock making and the manufacture of cars and motorcycles. The economy of the city is based on engineering, including a large aerospace industry. A local tradition states that King Wulfhere of Mercia founded an abbey of St Mary at Wolverhampton in 659, the Mercians and West Saxons claimed a decisive victory and the field of Woden is recognised by numerous place names in Wednesfield. In 985, King Ethelred the Unready granted lands at a place referred to as Heantun to Lady Wulfrun by royal charter and this became the site for the current St. Peters Church. A statue of Lady Wulfrun, sculpted by Sir Charles Wheeler, Wolverhampton is recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as being in the Hundred of Seisdon and the county of Staffordshire. The lords of the manor are listed as the canons of St Mary, with the tenant-in-chief being Samson, Wolverhampton at this date is a large settlement of fifty households. In 1179, there is mention of a market held in the town and this charter for a weekly market held on a Wednesday was eventually granted on 4 February 1258 by Henry III. From the 16th century onwards, Wolverhampton became home to a number of industries including lock and key making and iron. Wolverhampton suffered two Great Fires, the first in April 1590, and the second in September 1696, both fires started in todays Salop Street. The first fire lasted for five days and left nearly 700 people homeless and this second fire led to the purchase of the first fire engine within the city in September 1703. There is also evidence that Wolverhampton may have been the location of the first working Newcomen Steam Engine in 1712. In Victorian times, Wolverhampton grew to be a town mainly due to the huge amount of industry that occurred as a result of the abundance of coal. The remains of this wealth can be seen in houses such as Wightwick Manor and The Mount
8.
Asbestos
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They are commonly known by their colors, as blue asbestos, brown asbestos, white asbestos, and green asbestos. It was used in applications as electrical insulation for hotplate wiring. When asbestos is used for its resistance to fire or heat and these desirable properties made asbestos very widely used. Prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious and fatal illnesses including cancer, mesothelioma. Concern of asbestos-related illness in modern times began in the 20th century, by the 1980s and 1990s, asbestos trade and use were heavily restricted, phased out, or banned outright in an increasing number of countries. S. History and a much lesser legal issue in most other countries involved, asbestos-related liability also remains an ongoing concern for many manufacturers, insurers and reinsurers. Asbestos derives from the ancient Greek ἄσβεστος, meaning unquenchable or inextinguishable, the word is pronounced /æsˈbɛstəs/, /æzˈbɛstəs/ or /æzˈbɛstɒs/. Six mineral types are defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as asbestos including those belonging to the serpentine class, all six asbestos mineral types are known to be human carcinogens. The visible fibers are themselves composed of millions of microscopic fibrils that can be released by abrasion. Chrysotile is the member of the serpentine class. 12001-29-5, is obtained from rocks which are common throughout the world. Its idealized chemical formula is Mg34, chrysotile appears under the microscope as a white fiber. Chrysotile has been used more than any type and accounts for about 95% of the asbestos found in buildings in America. Chrysotile is more flexible than amphibole types of asbestos, and can be spun, the most common use was corrugated asbestos cement roofing primarily for outbuildings, warehouses and garages. It may also be found in sheets or panels used for ceilings and sometimes for walls, chrysotile has been a component in joint compound and some plasters. Amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyllite and actinolite are members of the amphibole class, one formula given for amosite is Fe7Si8O222. Amosite is seen under a microscope as a grey-white vitreous fiber and it is found most frequently as a fire retardant in thermal insulation products, asbestos insulating board and ceiling tiles. 12001-28-4, is the form of the amphibole riebeckite, found primarily in southern Africa
9.
Water table
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The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water, the water table is the surface where the water pressure head is equal to the atmospheric pressure. It may be visualized as the surface of the materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. The groundwater may be from precipitation or from groundwater flowing into the aquifer, in areas with sufficient precipitation, water infiltrates through pore spaces in the soil, passing through the unsaturated zone. At increasing depths water fills in more of the spaces in the soils. Below the water table, in the zone, layers of permeable rock that yield groundwater are called aquifers. In less permeable soils, such as tight bedrock formations and historic lakebed deposits, the water table should not be confused with the water level in a deeper well. The elevation of the water in this well is dependent upon the pressure in the deeper aquifer and is referred to as the potentiometric surface. The water table may vary due to changes such as precipitation and evapotranspiration. Springs, rivers, lakes and oases occur when the table reaches the surface. Springs commonly form on hillsides, where the Earths slanting surface may intersect with the water table, Groundwater entering rivers and lakes accounts for the base-flow water levels in water bodies. Within an aquifer, the table is rarely horizontal, but reflects the surface relief due to the capillary effect in soils, sediments. In the aquifer, groundwater flows from points of pressure to points of lower pressure. The slope of the table is known as the hydraulic gradient, which depends on the rate at which water is added to and removed from the aquifer. This occurs when there is a layer of rock or sediment or relatively impermeable layer above the main water table/aquifer. If a perched aquifers flow intersects the Earths dry surface, at a wall for example. On low-lying oceanic islands with porous soil, freshwater tends to collect in lenticular pools on top of the denser seawater intruding from the sides of the islands, such an islands freshwater lens, and thus the water table, rises and falls with the tides. In some regions, for example, Great Britain or California, winter precipitation is higher than summer precipitation
10.
Hallmark
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A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of precious metals—platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term hallmark can also be used to refer to any distinguishing characteristic, historically, hallmarks were applied by a trusted party, the guardians of the craft or more recently by an assay office. Hallmarks are a guarantee of certain purity or fineness of the metal, Hallmarks are often confused with trademarks or makers marks. A hallmark is not the mark of a manufacturer to distinguish his products from other manufacturers products, to be a true hallmark, it must be the guarantee of an independent body or authority that the contents are as marked. Thus, a stamp of 925 by itself is not, strictly speaking, a hallmark, many nations require, as a prerequisite to official hallmarking, that the maker or sponsor itself marks upon the item a responsibility mark and a claim of fineness. Responsibility marks are required in the U. S. if metal fineness is claimed. In some nations, such as the UK, the hallmark is made up of elements, including, a mark denoting the type of metal, the maker/sponsors mark. In England, the year of marking commences on May 19, in other nations, such as Poland, the hallmark is a single mark indicating metal and fineness, augmented by a responsibility mark. These can ease import obligations among and between the signatory states, signatory countries each have a single representative hallmark which would be struck next to the Convention mark which represents the metal and fineness. The control or inspection of precious metals was an ancient concept of examination and marking, a series or system of five marks has been found on Byzantine silver dating from this period, though their interpretation is still not completely resolved. From the Late Middle Ages, hallmarking was administered by local governments through authorized assayers and these assayers examined precious metal objects, under the auspices of the state, before the object could be offered for public sale. By the age of the Craft Guilds, the authorized examiners mark was the masters mark, at one time, there was no distinction between silversmiths and goldsmiths, who were all referred to as orfèvres, the French word for goldsmith. The Master Craftsman was responsible for the quality of the work that left his atelier or workshop, hence the responsibility mark is still known today in French as le poinçon de maître literally the makers punch. Hallmarking is Europes earliest form of consumer protection, modern hallmarking in Europe appears first in France, with the Goldsmiths Statute of 1260 promulgated under Etienne Boileau, Provost of Paris, for King Louis IX. A standard for silver was thus established, in 1275, King Philip III prescribed, by royal decree, the mark for use on silver works, along with specific punches for each communitys smiths. In 1313, his successor, Philippe IV the Fair expanded the use of hallmarks to gold works, in 1327 King Edward III of England granted a charter to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, marking the beginning of the Companys formal existence. This entity was headquartered in London at Goldsmiths Hall, from whence the English term hallmark is derived, although gold was certainly used for articles, the regulation was silent on standards and hallmarking for gold. In 1355, individual maker marks were introduced in France and this concept was later mirrored in England in 1363, adding accountability to the two systems
11.
Birmingham Assay Office
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The Birmingham Assay Office, one of the four assay offices in the United Kingdom, is located in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham. The development of an industry in 18th century Birmingham was hampered by the legal requirement that items of solid silver be assayed. Matthew Boulton and Birminghams other great industrialists joined forces with silversmiths of Sheffield to petition Parliament for the establishment of Assay Offices in their respective cities. The Birmingham Assay Office opened on 31 August 1773 and initially operated three rooms in the Kings Head Inn on New Street employing only four staff and was only operating on a Tuesday. The first customer on that day was Matthew Boulton, the assay office is managed by a board of 36 Guardians of the Standard of Wrought Plate in Birmingham, between six and nine of whom must be connected with the trade. The hallmark of the Birmingham Assay Office is the Anchor, and it is rumoured that the choice of symbol was made on the toss of a coin which resulted in Birmingham winning the Anchor and Sheffield with the Crown. Services provided by the office include nickel testing, metal analysis, plating thickness determination, bullion certification, consultancy, Platinum was brought within the Hallmarking Act 1973. The Assay Office started in 1773 at leased rooms in the Kings Head Inn on New Street, the Newhall Street building is listed as Grade II. Due to lack of capacity in its Newhall Street building it was decided that a new Assay Office would be needed. A site on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter was chosen and planning permission was secured in December 2012. The construction was managed by Trebor Developments with Galliford Try as principal contractor, O’Brien as sub-contractors. The new building cost £10 million to construct with £1.2 million of that provided by a European Union Grant. This 5,000 sq ft two-storey blue brick building on Moreton Street provides modern offices, laboratories, the Assay Office moved into the new building on 27 July 2015. The design of the new building incorporates special “feature bricks” which bear the key hallmarking symbols used during the Assay Office’s 240-year history and these include the traditional hallmarking symbols, a lion for Sterling Silver, crown for Gold, orb for Platinum and Pallas Athene for Palladium. The famous Birmingham town mark, the anchor, also features prominently, there are also a dozen which feature the sponsors marks of some of its most significant customers. In recognition of the honour, these customers contributed £12,000 to charity, the building includes a private museum. The former building on Newhall Street was converted into the Assay Studios a creative office space, all About Antique Silver with International Hallmarks, 2nd printing, Diana Sanders Cinamon, AAA Publishing, San Bernardino, CA. Birminghams Industrial History Website Birmingham. gov. uk page Birmingham Roundabout - Birmingham History Website
12.
Anchor
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An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα. Anchors can either be temporary or permanent, permanent anchors are used in the creation of a mooring, and are rarely moved, a specialist service is normally needed to move or maintain them. Vessels carry one or more anchors, which may be of different designs. A sea anchor is a drogue, not in contact with the seabed, used to control a drifting vessel, anchors achieve holding power either by hooking into the seabed, or via sheer mass, or a combination of the two. Permanent moorings use large masses resting on the seabed, semi-permanent mooring anchors and large ships anchors derive a significant portion of their holding power from their mass, while also hooking or embedding in the bottom. Modern anchors for smaller vessels have metal flukes which hook on to rocks on the bottom or bury themselves in soft seabed, the vessel is attached to the anchor by the rode, which is made of chain, cable, rope, or a combination of these. A10,1 scope gives the greatest holding power, Anchoring with sufficient scope and/or heavy chain rode brings the direction of strain close to parallel with the seabed. If necessary, motoring slowly around the location of the anchor also helps dislodge it, anchors are sometimes fitted with a tripping line attached to the crown, by which they can be unhooked from rocks or coral. The term aweigh describes an anchor when it is hanging on the rope and is not resting on the bottom and this is linked to the term to weigh anchor, meaning to lift the anchor from the sea bed, allowing the ship or boat to move. An anchor is described as aweigh when it has broken out of the bottom and is being hauled up to be stowed. Aweigh should not be confused with under way, which describes a vessel which is not moored to a dock or anchored, the earliest anchors were probably rocks, and many rock anchors have been found dating from at least the Bronze Age. Pre-European Maori waka used one or more hollowed stones, tied with flax ropes, many modern moorings still rely on a large rock as the primary element of their design. However, using pure mass to resist the forces of a storm only works well as a permanent mooring, the ancient Greeks used baskets of stones, large sacks filled with sand, and wooden logs filled with lead. According to Apollonius Rhodius and Stephen of Byzantium, anchors were formed of stone, such anchors held the vessel merely by their weight and by their friction along the bottom. Iron was afterwards introduced for the construction of anchors, and an improvement was made by forming them with teeth, or flukes, the Admiralty Pattern, A. P. or simply Admiralty, and also known as Fisherman, is the anchor shape most familiar to non-sailors. It consists of a shank with a ring or shackle for attaching the rode. At the other end of the shank there are two arms, carrying the flukes, while the stock is mounted to the other end, when the anchor lands on the bottom, it will generally fall over with the arms parallel to the seabed
13.
Kingsway Exchange
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Kingsway telephone exchange was a Cold War-era hardened telephone exchange underneath High Holborn in London. The Kingsway telephone exchange was built as a deep-level shelter underneath Chancery Lane tube station in the early 1940s. Although intended for use as an air shelter, like many of the deep level shelters it was not used for its intended purpose and was instead used as a government communications centre. Material from the Public Records Office was stored there from 1945 to 1949, the site was given to the General Post Office in 1949. At the time, the Post Office was also responsible for telephones as well as postal system, the two-tunnel shelter was extended by the addition of four tunnels at right-angles to the originals. This extension was completed by 1954, and in 1956 it became the UK termination point for TAT-1, throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, Kingsway Trunk Switching Centre was a trunk switching centre and repeater station with Post Office engineering staff totalling over 200 at its peak. The countrys first Radiopaging terminal was installed on this site in the 1970s. The site had a restaurant, tea bar, games room. Its bar claimed to be the deepest in the United Kingdom, the site contained an artesian well and rations to maintain several hundred people for many months, ensuring a safe environment in case of nuclear attack. By the early 1980s the site was subject to a phased closure after large quantities of asbestos were found on the site. By 1995 only the main frame was still in service. In October 2008, British Telecom announced that the tunnels were for sale, Kingsway Telephone Exchange has two entrances. One is next to a shopfront at 32 High Holborn, the other is a lift on Furnival Street. A third access point, a combination of ventilation towers and a lift at Tooks Court was demolished in 2001
14.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
15.
Guardian telephone exchange
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Guardian Exchange was an underground telephone exchange built in Manchester in 1954. It was built together with the Anchor Exchange in Birmingham and the Kingsway exchange in London – all believed to provide hardened communications in the event of nuclear war, today the underground site is used for telephone cabling. Constructed at a depth of 35 metres, the tunnels are about 2 metres in diameter, the exchange cost around £4 million, part of which was funded by the United Kingdoms NATO partners. The Guardian Bunker has been called the Best kept secret in Manchester, the tunnels are known to be used for British Telecom cables. The exchange rose to prominence in March 2004 when a fire in one of the tunnels caused 130,000 telephone lines in Manchester to be cut off, ambulance and fire service calls around the North West region were also severely affected
16.
Manchester
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Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 514,414 as of 2013. It lies within the United Kingdoms second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.55 million, Manchester is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council and it was historically a part of Lancashire, although areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated during the 20th century. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a township but began to expand at an astonishing rate around the turn of the 19th century. Manchesters unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and its fortunes declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation. The city centre was devastated in a bombing in 1996, but it led to extensive investment, in 2014, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Manchester as a beta world city, the highest-ranked British city apart from London. Manchester is the third-most visited city in the UK and it is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the worlds first inter-city passenger railway station and in the city scientists first split the atom, the name Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium or its variant Mancunium and the citizens are still referred to as Mancunians. These are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name, both meanings are preserved in languages derived from Common Brittonic, mam meaning breast in Irish and mother in Welsh. The suffix -chester is a survival of Old English ceaster and their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what is now Salford and Stretford. Central Manchester has been settled since this time. A stabilised fragment of foundations of the version of the Roman fort is visible in Castlefield. After the Roman withdrawal and Saxon conquest, the focus of settlement shifted to the confluence of the Irwell, much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North. Thomas de la Warre, lord of the manor, founded and constructed a church for the parish in 1421. The church is now Manchester Cathedral, the premises of the college house Chethams School of Music. The library, which opened in 1653 and is open to the public today, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Manchester is mentioned as having a market in 1282, around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of Flemish weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the regions textile industry
17.
Nuclear weapon
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A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from small amounts of matter. The first test of a bomb released the same amount of energy as approximately 20,000 tons of TNT. The first thermonuclear bomb test released the same amount of energy as approximately 10 million tons of TNT, a thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than 2,400 pounds can produce an explosive force comparable to the detonation of more than 1.2 million tons of TNT. A nuclear device no larger than traditional bombs can devastate a city by blast, fire. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of destruction, and their use. Nuclear weapons have been used twice in nuclear warfare, both times by the United States against Japan near the end of World War II, the bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 civilians and military personnel from acute injuries sustained from the explosions. The ethics of the bombings and their role in Japans surrender remain the subject of scholarly, since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have been detonated on over two thousand occasions for the purposes of testing and demonstration. Only a few nations possess such weapons or are suspected of seeking them, israel is also believed to possess nuclear weapons, though in a policy of deliberate ambiguity, it does not acknowledge having them. Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands are nuclear weapons sharing states, south Africa is the only country to have independently developed and then renounced and dismantled its nuclear weapons. Modernisation of weapons continues to occur, all existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear fission reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission reactions are commonly referred to as bombs or atom bombs. This has long noted as something of a misnomer, as their energy comes from the nucleus of the atom. The latter approach is considered more sophisticated than the former and only the approach can be used if the fissile material is plutonium. A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant fraction of the fuel is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons of TNT, all fission reactions necessarily generate fission products, the radioactive remains of the atomic nuclei split by the fission reactions. Many fission products are highly radioactive or moderately radioactive. Fission products are the radioactive component of nuclear fallout
18.
Glasgow
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Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and third largest in the United Kingdom. Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is now one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and it is situated on the River Clyde in the countrys West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as Glaswegians, Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Britain. From the 18th century the city grew as one of Great Britains main hubs of transatlantic trade with North America. Glasgow was the Second City of the British Empire for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew in population, reaching a peak of 1,128,473 in 1939. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers about 2.3 million people, at the 2011 census, Glasgow had a population density of 8, 790/sq mi, the highest of any Scottish city. Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and is well known in the sporting world for the football rivalry of the Old Firm between Celtic and Rangers. Glasgow is also known for Glasgow patter, a dialect that is noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city. Glasgow is the form of the ancient Cumbric name Glas Cau. Possibly referring to the area of Molendinar Burn where Glasgow Cathedral now stands, the later Gaelic name Baile Glas Chu, town of the grey dog, is purely a folk-etymology. The present site of Glasgow has been settled since prehistoric times, it is for settlement, being the furthest downstream fording point of the River Clyde, the origins of Glasgow as an established city derive ultimately from its medieval position as Scotlands second largest bishopric. Glasgow increased in importance during the 10th and 11th centuries as the site of this bishopric, reorganised by King David I of Scotland and John, there had been an earlier religious site established by Saint Mungo in the 6th century. The bishopric became one of the largest and wealthiest in the Kingdom of Scotland, bringing wealth, sometime between 1189 and 1195 this status was supplemented by an annual fair, which survives as the Glasgow Fair. Glasgow grew over the following centuries, the first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was recorded from around 1285, giving its name to the Briggait area of the city, forming the main North-South route over the river via Glasgow Cross. The founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to become the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492 increased the towns religious and educational status and landed wealth. Its early trade was in agriculture, brewing and fishing, with cured salmon and herring being exported to Europe, Glasgow was subsequently raised to the status of Royal Burgh in 1611. The citys Tobacco Lords created a water port at Port Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde. By the late 18th century more than half of the British tobacco trade was concentrated on Glasgows River Clyde, at the time, Glasgow held a commercial importance as the city participated in the trade of sugar, tobacco and later cotton
19.
Civil defense
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Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attacks and natural disasters. It uses the principles of operations, prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation. Programs of this sort were initially discussed at least as early as the 1920s and were implemented in some countries during the 1930s as the threat of war and it became widespread after the threat of nuclear weapons was realized. Since the end of the Cold War, the focus of civil defense has largely shifted from military attack to emergencies, in some countries, civil defense is seen as a key part of total defense. For example, in Sweden, the Swedish word totalförsvar refers to the commitment of a range of resources of the nation to its defense - including to civil protection. Respectively, some countries may have or have had military-organized civil defense units as part of their armed forces or as a paramilitary service, the advent of civil defence was stimulated by the experience of the bombing of civilian areas during the First World War. The bombing of the United Kingdom began on 19 January 1915 when German zeppelins dropped bombs on the Great Yarmouth area, German bombing operations of the First World War were surprisingly effective, especially after the Gotha bombers surpassed the zeppelins. The most devastating raids inflicted 121 casualties for each ton of bombs dropped, the Committee produced figures estimating that in London there would be 9,000 casualties in the first two days and then a continuing rate of 17,500 casualties a week. It was believed there would be total chaos and panic. To control the population harsh measures were proposed, bringing London under almost military control, a different government department proposed setting up camps for refugees for a few days before sending them back to London. A special government department, the Civil Defence Service, was established by the Home Office in 1935 and its remit included the pre-existing ARP as well as wardens, firemen, fire watchers, rescue, first aid post, stretcher party and industry. Over 1.9 million people served within the CD, nearly 2,400 lost their lives to enemy action, the organisation of civil defence was the responsibility of the local authority. Volunteers were ascribed to different units depending on experience or training, each local civil defence service was divided into several sections. Wardens were responsible for reconnaissance and reporting, and leadership, organisation, guidance. Wardens would also advise survivors of the locations of rest and food centres, Rescue Parties were required to assess and then access bombed-out buildings and retrieve injured or dead people. In addition they would turn off gas, electricity and water supplies, medical services, including First Aid Parties, provided on the spot medical assistance. The expected stream of information that would be generated during an attack was handled by Report, a local headquarters would have an ARP controller who would direct rescue, first aid and decontamination teams to the scenes of reported bombing. If local services were deemed insufficient to deal with the incident then the controller could request assistance from surrounding boroughs
20.
Thermonuclear weapon
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A thermonuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon that uses the energy from a primary nuclear fission reaction to compress and ignite a secondary nuclear fusion reaction. The result is greatly increased power when compared to single-stage fission weapons. It is colloquially referred to as a bomb or an H-bomb because it employs the fusion of isotopes of hydrogen. The first full scale thermonuclear test was carried out by the United States in 1952, similar devices were developed by the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, China, and France. The radiation implosion mechanism is an engine that exploits the temperature difference between the secondary stages hot, surrounding radiation channel and its relatively cool interior. This temperature difference is maintained by a massive heat barrier called the pusher. If made of uranium, as is almost always the case, it can capture neutrons produced by the reaction and undergo fission itself. In many Teller–Ulam weapons, fission of the pusher dominates the explosion, detailed knowledge of fission and fusion weapons is classified to some degree in virtually every industrialized nation. Born secret is rarely invoked for cases of private speculation, in a small number of prior cases, the U. S. government has attempted to censor weapons information in the public press, with limited success. According to the New York Times, physicist Kenneth Ford defied government orders to remove classified information from his new book, Building the H Bomb, the state of public knowledge about the Teller–Ulam design has been mostly shaped from a few specific incidents outlined in a section below. At a bare minimum, this implies a primary section consists of an implosion-type fission bomb. The energy released by the primary compresses the secondary through a process called radiation implosion, at which point it is heated, surrounding the other components is a hohlraum or radiation case, a container that traps the first stage or primarys energy inside temporarily. The outside of this case, which is also normally the outside casing of the bomb, is the only direct visual evidence publicly available of any thermonuclear bomb components configuration. Numerous photographs of various thermonuclear bomb exteriors have been declassified, generally, a research program with the capacity to create a thermonuclear bomb has already mastered the ability to engineer boosted fission. The secondary is usually shown as a column of fusion fuel, around the column is first a pusher-tamper, a heavy layer of uranium-238 or lead that serves to help compress the fusion fuel. Inside this is the fuel itself, usually a form of lithium deuteride. This dry fuel, when bombarded by neutrons, produces tritium, inside the layer of fuel is the spark plug, a hollow column of fissile material that, when compressed, can itself undergo nuclear fission. The tertiary, if one is present, would be set below the secondary, separating the secondary from the primary is the interstage
21.
Birmingham Mail
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The Birmingham Mail is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, The Black Country, Solihull, Warwickshire and parts of Worcestershire and Staffordshire. The newspaper, which was re-branded from the Birmingham Evening Mail in October 2005, is one of the biggest selling newspapers in the UK. The Mail is published Monday to Saturday in the editions, - Daily Edition. The Sunday Mercury is a paper published on a Sunday. The newspapers currently owned by the Trinity Mirror Group who also owns the Daily Mirror and the Birmingham Post, the current Birmingham Mail editor is David Brookes, who is also Editor-in-Chief of the Birmingham Post and Sunday Mercury. The former Editor of the newspaper was Steve Dyson, who held the role from 2005 until 2010, the paper hits the streets at 06,00 and is on sale until the end of the day. The advertising deadlines are until 17,00 to get into the days edition. Daily circulation registered with the ABC is 19,200 copies, down -20. 9% year on year
22.
Sutton Coldfield transmitting station
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The Sutton Coldfield transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility located in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England. It has broadcast terrestrial television signals every day since 1949 and is thus the oldest working television transmitting station in the world, in terms of population covered, it is the second most important transmitter in the UK, after Crystal Palace in London. A new mast was built around 1983 to replace the original structure, a 240. 2m temporary mast was erected alongside the original mast in the spring of 2009 so that work could proceed in raising the height of the original mast by 31m. After four years in service and almost a year after the completion of digital switch over, all analogue TV transmissions ceased on 21 September 2011, as part of the digital switchover. This made it one of the oldest transmitters in the country to formally end analogue broadcasts. With a mast height of 270.5 metres, it is one of the most powerful transmitters in England, the coverage extends as far south as Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire and as far north as Stoke-on-Trent. However, there are many relay transmitters around the Midlands that extend coverage even further, thus mux 6 was transmitted slightly out of band on UHF Channel 55, though this would still be receivable on most B group aerials as this graph makes clear. In July 2007 it was confirmed by Ofcom that Sutton Coldfield would return to an undisputed B group transmitter post-Digital Switchover, a process that was completed on 21 September 2011. An MF transmitter for Radio Birmingham used to be installed at this site and it was eventually replaced with a transmitter at the nearby Langley Mill MF site owned by Arqiva. This transmitter is used for the BBC Asian Network. The station is now owned by Arqiva, analogue television signals are no longer broadcast from Sutton Coldfield as of 21 September 2011. The transmitter is served by a set of 35 local relays and these are, Digital switchover took place at Sutton Coldfield in September 2011. In preparation for this, major engineering works took place at the station, the mast height was increased from 245.0 metres to 270.5 metres and the UHF television antennas were replaced. This was accomplished through the use of a temporary 240.2 metres mast constructed to broadcast all the services so that the main mast could be worked on cold. HD broadcasts were moved from the Lichfield transmitter to Sutton Coldfield on the BBC B multiplex, the Lichfield transmitter ceased the broadcast of all television services, with all six multiplexes being broadcast from Sutton Coldfield. Pawley, Edward, BBC Engineering 1922 -1972, London, BBC. pp 355, ISBN 0-563-12127-0 Cooper, Ray, Tales from a Cold Field. com
23.
BT Tower (Birmingham)
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The BT Tower is a famous landmark and telecommunications tower in Birmingham, England, and is also the tallest structure in the city. Its Post Office code was YBMR, construction of the tower commenced in July 1963 and was completed in September 1965. The tower became operational in December 1966 and was opened by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. It was designed by the Ministry of Public Building and Works with M. H and it has 26 storeys, housing technical areas and offices, and five levels of circular aerial galleries at the top. The original intention was to build a tower similar to the London one. At one time the Post Office wanted to increase the height from 500 feet and this was refused in order to avoid non-standard procedures for aircraft approaching Birmingham Airport from the north-west. The square design, as built, was proposed for aesthetic reasons by the Chief Architect of the Ministry of Public Building, the tower was designed to be stable in high winds. Channels at each corner funnel the wind to counteract the force of the wind swaying the structure, a stable platform is necessary so that the microwave dishes mounted on the side of the structure keep line of sight with the remote transmitter they are communicating with. There were two steel rails on one wall on which a trolley was designed to run to carry the dishes up to the aerial galleries. The original horn dishes were too heavy for the roof mounted crane to lift and had to be stripped down, the ability to lift dishes was dependent on the weather and to complicate matters, the steel rails only went to the bottom of the first aerial gallery. To get the higher a steel cable system was used that was mounted on poles. When the trolley reached the aerial gallery it had to be disconnected from the rails, in August 2003, the tower was painted an ultramarine blue to cover the existing light brown which had started to discolour. The balconies were painted to stand out from the tower in a shade of blue. On 18 March 2004, Jasper Carrott switched on the night time illuminations of the tower in response to Birmingham City Councils policy of encouraging the illumination of local landmarks, the tower is home to a pair of peregrines, with a webcam installed in 2010. On 5 February 2012 the last of the large analogue aerial dishes was removed following a migration to digital transmission. There are 24 equipment height floors, a Band Branching area - the square section seen from outside which is double the normal floor height followed by 5 aerial galleries. Floor numbering used YBMR/A followed by the floor number +1. The aerial galleries were labelled YBMR/B1-5, list of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Skyscrapernews. coms entry BT Tower Peregrine webcam Birminghams Hidden Spaces, BT Tower
24.
10 Holloway Circus
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10 Holloway Circus is a 427-foot tall mixed-use skyscraper in Birmingham city centre, England. It is named after the developers, Beetham Organisation, and was designed by Ian Simpson, the entire development covers an area of 7,000 square feet. It is the tallest occupied building in Birmingham and the 23rd tallest building in the United Kingdom and it has 39 floors, and is the second tallest structure in the city after the 499 ft British Telecom Tower. The front façade of the building is floor-to-ceiling glass decorated in tiger stripes which are used to enhance the vertical impact, as the apartments were being furbished, an aqua coloured camouflage was also added to these windows with some of the tiger stripes being removed. Coloured lights can be seen underneath the overhang at night, the lower 19-floors are a Radisson Blu hotel, which opened to guests on 16 January 2006 whilst the upper floors were still being furnished. The upper 20 floors contain 158 apartments, there are eight circular concrete columns as well as the core on each floor. The post-tensioned flat plates of the floors are concrete and measure 9 in in thickness. 10 Holloway Circus received 12 points in the 2006 Emporis Skyscraper Awards placing it in position in the top ten. The site chosen was the AEU Building, designed by The John Madin Design Group and completed in 1957, the spires were also removed and replaced by two cones placed on the rear of the tower on top of the stairwells. The overhang at the front was added, the proposed office space was also removed and the planning application was withdrawn. The new design was submitted, however, was withdrawn by the Beetham Corporation after talks over the purchase of the adjacent multi-storey car park with National Car Parks broke down without a deal. This was a surprise to the developers as they had expected to be able to purchase the land and had even included their plans for the site in the planning application. Amendments to the application were made and it was resubmitted in October 2000. A model of the tower was tested in a tunnel with models of surrounding buildings also being included. The ground of the model was accurate to that of the Birmingham landscape. The model passed with few problems and construction of the tower began, construction began in March 2003 with the erection of hoardings around the site allowing clearance work to commence and the construction of a tower crane. The concrete core began to rise and reached a considerable height before the construction of the concrete floor panels began. The transportation of materials to the levels were done using a lift attached to the middle of the curved frontage
25.
Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower
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The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, or simply Old Joe, is a clock tower and campanile located in Chancellors court at the University of Birmingham, in the suburb of Edgbaston. It is the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world, although its height is the subject of some confusion. The university lists it as both 110 metres and 99 metres tall, whereas other sources state that it is 100 metres tall, the nicknames Old Joe, Big Joe, or simply The Clock Tower are used by the student population and local residents. A prominent landmark in Birmingham, the grade II listed tower can be seen for miles around the campus, the tower is modelled on the Torre del Mangia in Siena. The original tower designs were amended due to Chamberlains great admiration for the Italian citys campanile, on 1 October 1905, the Birmingham Post reported that Chamberlain had announced to the University Council an anonymous gift of £50,000. In 1940, Sir Mark Oliphant used the tower for radar experiments, the tower remained the tallest structure in Birmingham until 1969, when construction on the 152 m tall BT Tower was completed in the Jewellery Quarter area of the city. However, Old Joe is still one of the fifty tallest buildings in the UK, the asteroid 10515 Old Joe, discovered in 1989, is named in the clock towers honour. There is a superstition that if students walk through the archway when it chimes. The base is solid concrete,50 ft square by 10 ft thick, the clock hands are made out of sheet copper. There are ten floors served by a lift in the SW corner. The tower was built from the inside, without scaffolding, up to the level of the balcony and it is built of Red Accrington brick with Darley Dale dressings and tapers from 29 ft square to 23 ft below the balcony. Owing to its having been built from the inside it was not pointed and had to be pointed in 1914 and was subsequently repointed in 1957 and its weight, solid brick corners linked by four courses of brick resists the overturning wind forces. The original design for Old Joe is thought to have been based upon St Marks Campanile in Venice, the final design is thought to have been inspired by Torre del Mangia which is of similar design but for the clock being placed towards the bottom of the tower. It is also said to have been inspiration for the Eye of Sauron in J. R. R Tolkiens Lord of the Rings due to the clock face. However, The Two Towers themselves are widely accepted as having been inspired by Edgbaston Waterworks, general Article from the Birmingham Magazine, including some history of the Clock Tower A 360° view of the Clock Tower
26.
Alpha Tower
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Alpha Tower is Grade II listed office skyscraper in Birmingham, England. ATV closed in 1982, after which the building became offices, Birmingham City Council took a large tenancy of the building until they vacated in 2010. It is the third tallest building in Birmingham and the tallest office building in Birmingham and it is a Grade A locally listed building. It was nominated for listed building status by the Twentieth Century Society in 2002, however, English Heritage added Alpha Tower to The National Heritage List for England on 31 July 2014. According to English Heritage, The building is one of the most aesthetically successful office buildings in Birmingham with a shaped outline, arena Central Developments sold the building to Catalysts European Property Fund in 2008 for £42.5 million. Birmingham City Council left tenancy in 2010 leaving the building 77% void, nationwide Building Society put the building into receivership in 2012 and put it on the market for £10.25 million in 2013. The building was bought for £14 million in February 2014 by Anglo Scandinavian Estates Group who are set to invest £9 million in a refurbishment of the building, the tower featured in the Cliff Richard film Take Me High for both exterior and interior shots. BirminghamUK. com Skyscrapernews. coms entry SkyscraperPage. coms entry Emporis. coms Entry
27.
Orion Building
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The Orion Building is a 90-metre tall high rise residential building on Navigation Street, Birmingham 5, England. Construction of the began in 2004 with demolition of the previous building on the site. As part of the development, the original façades of some of the buildings have been retained and incorporated into the lowrise sections of the complex. The complex consists of a 28 storey tower with five basement floors and it includes the citys first penthouse which was sold for £1.65 million. The fourth and final phase of the building, being marketed as Sirius, is nearing completion, the first planning application for the Orion Building was submitted on 3 December 2001 to Birmingham City Council. It was approved on 25 April 2002, soon after gaining planning permission, the scheme encountered problems. The original contractor, Carillion, fell out with Crosby Homes, Carillion quit their involvement on the scheme and Taylor Woodrow took over with construction recommencing soon after. Before construction of phases 1 and 2 commenced, all of the 150 apartments had been sold, the next planning application was submitted on 10 October 2002 for the second phase of the scheme. It was approved on July 8,2003, another planning application was submitted for the reuse of 93-97 John Bright Street, a listed building, as apartments and retail. It was submitted on 25 June 2004 and was approved on 2 October 2005, on 5 October 2004 Crosby Homes submitted a planning application to add another four floors to the tower and another storey to the block adjacent to it. Alterations were also made to the layouts of the apartments between floors 10 and 19 to provide a further 29 flats, the planning application was approved on 16 December 2004. The building was constructed in three phases with Phase 1 being the corner on Navigation Street and John Bright Street and the John Bright Street frontage. Phase 2 is a low rise element to the complex that fronts on to Navigation Street whilst Phase 3 is the tower overlooking Suffolk Street Queensway. The 200 apartments within the complex have been designed by John Rocha, the fashion designer, on the ground floor, there are four retail units, one of which is occupied by Sainsburys Local. The tower is illuminated at night by strips of LEDs, the top part of the tower is completely glass. Below this, the tower consists of strips of glass set within pre-cast concrete panels, the pre-cast concrete panels were painted in varying tones of beige after the construction. The reason for this was unknown, however in December 2006 these patches were painted over in a single colour, the final phase of the Orion scheme, is currently under construction. It is being marketed separate to the Orion Building and is named Sirius, as of August 2008, the scaffolding and sheeting covering the façade of the structure are being removed
28.
The Sentinels
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The Sentinels are two 90 metre tall residential tower blocks on Holloway Head in Birmingham, England. They are the tallest purely residential tower blocks in the city and they are surpassed by the newer Radisson Blu directly across Holloway Circus Queensway with 40 floors but this incorporates a hotel as residences. The councillors decided that Birmingham needed a development similar to this and in 1965, after discussions over height, it was decided that the tower blocks should be 32 stories tall, one story taller than the Red Road tower blocks in Glasgow, Scotland. It was decided to construct out of concrete, which was common among tower blocks in the city during that time. They were designed by Bryants Ltd. and both towers were identical though angled differently to provide a different perspective to each block, the project was approved in 1967 and construction of the towers commenced immediately. Cleveland Tower was completed in 1970 and Clydesdale Tower in 1971, upon their opening, they had 488 flats. Recent changes to housing legislation by the incoming Conservative government allowed the Council to offer many of the flats on a cost rent basis to those not on the housing waiting list. Although changes to the Councils letting policy subsequently ended cost rent lettings, Optima then embarked on an extensive refurbishment programme as part of a wider regeneration scheme in the Attwood Green area in Birmingham. The project at The Sentinels involved replacing windows, kitchens, lifts, refurbishing the communal areas and improving security. A new entrance was constructed as well as a feature, lighting scheme, which illuminates the building a blue light at night. In 2004, the Sentinels Residents Association submitted a petition to Birmingham City Council complaining about waste facilities and they also complained about a man, who had previously threatened suicide, being rehoused on a high floor of one of the towers. Beetham Tower, Birmingham List of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Clydesdale Tower on Skyscrapernews Cleveland Tower on Skyscrapernews Optima Community Association
29.
Rotunda (Birmingham)
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The Rotunda is a cylindrical highrise building in Birmingham, England. The Grade II listed building is 81 metres tall and was completed in 1965 and it was refurbished between 2004 and 2008 by Urban Splash with Glenn Howells who turned it into a residential building with serviced apartments on 19th and 20th floors. The building was reopened on 13 May 2008. A part of the James A. Roberts design for the original Bull Ring Shopping Centre included a 12 storey circular office block and this was revised to 25 storeys, abandoning plans for a rooftop restaurant and a cinema. The design was approved and construction began on the 81 metre building in 1961 and it was constructed with aid of a tower crane located to the side of the reinforced concrete central core. Due to its proximity to a tunnel, the main load was built on to a twin ring of piled foundations directly beneath the circular structural core. The floors are supported by the core and perimeter columns, when opened, the podium had shops and its own work of art, The Rotunda Relief at Lloyds banking hall, a circular mural designed by John Poole. The building construction was unique at the time, possibly due to the lack of construction space, the supports for the hydraulic pumps used to jack up the building started to shift towards the New Street Station railway lines so the buildings planned height was never completed. Completed in 1965 as a block at a cost of £1 million during the post-war rebuilding of the Bull Ring. However, suggestions in the 1980s that it should be demolished when the Bull Ring was again redeveloped met with equal, if not greater, in 1974 a pub on the ground floor and basement of the building, was one of the sites of the Birmingham pub bombings. Since its construction and prior to the construction of the new Bullring, in the 1960s and 1970s these advertisements were for the property company MEPC plc, while in the 1980s and 1990s the Rotunda displayed signs for Coca-Cola. During construction of the new Bullring, advertisements on the top of the building advertised the new development, the building also previously had a digital clock showing the time from the top floors. In August 2000, it received Grade II listed building status, from 2004 to 2008, the Rotunda, a Grade II listed building, was refurbished and partially converted for residential use by developer Urban Splash and Glenn Howells Architects. The redevelopment created 232 luxury apartments, including six penthouse suites on the 20th floor, the whole of the 19th floor and one of the penthouses on the 20th floor is run as serviced apartments by the Manchester-based operator, Staying Cool. There are fourteen apartments on each floor, all apartments have been sold, with the final 92 being sold within three hours of their release. Two hi-tech LED illuminations were installed at the top of the building in 2007, both LED boards have been removed to make way for a light box which was approved by Birmingham City Council in late-2007. The façade consists of 72 floor-to-ceiling height glass panes, each placed at 5° to the neighbouring window, on 18 May 2006, strong winds dislodged a pane of glass causing it to fall to the ground resulting in the surrounding area being closed to the public. However, by June 2008, investors were already facing a significant financial loss, rents have been significantly below what was expected, and the value of the flats dropped an average of £25,000 from October 2005 to June 2008
30.
103 Colmore Row
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103 Colmore Row formerly known as National Westminster House is a building on Colmore Row, Birmingham, England. The original building was designed by John Madin and was completed in October 1975 as offices, after National Westminster Bank vacated the building it passed through several ownerships but failed to lease its offices. In 2008 a plan by then owners British Land to demolish the tower and this plan never progressed and the building is now owned by the developer Sterling Property Ventures who successfully applied to have the building demolished and a new tower constructed in 2015. Demolition began in July 2015 and was completed in January 2017, the original building was a 23-storey structure with entrances on Colmore Row and Newhall Street. Designed by John Madin, it is of the Brutalist style, although, the pre-cast concrete panels on the exterior, which were common on commercial buildings of the time, rather than in-situ concrete do make the building differ from classic Brutalism. Designs for the building were first publicised in 1964 and it was remarked that it had drawn inspiration from the University of Pittsburgh by Louis Kahn, the designs showed a two-storey banking hall with a rectangular tower with horizontal ribbon windows. It also showed a service tower facing on to Newhall Street and this design differed significantly to the one that was approved by Birmingham City Council. The scheme also included an office block to the west of the site that was separated from it by an L-shaped courtyard. This office block was reclad and increased to eight storeys in 1996-7 so that it reads as a separate building. The entire scheme was named the Colmore Centre, the first phase of the scheme, which consisted of the construction of the banking hall, was completed in 1969. Construction of the began in 1973 and was completed three years later at a total cost of £3.5 million. The building was constructed so that it was not purely occupied by the National Westminster Bank, however, the building proved difficult to let and was never fully occupied with the only major corporation to take office space in the tower was Eversheds. The building has been vacant since 2003, the banking hall itself has a coffered ceiling of plasterboard covered in gold leaf and Travertine marble floors and skirtings. The exterior is covered in abstract plaster murals and bronze matt ceramic tiles, the lift shaft and two ventilation towers are constructed using brick. The structure was constructed of precast concrete with concrete floor slabs. There are four plant floors at the top of the tower and 100 car park spaces in a basement car park that has been left disused upon the discovery of asbestos. The office block was accessed via a stainless steel surround doorway on Newhall Street, the entrance here appears to be of a later date to the rest of the building. The office block has a core at the centre of each floor, consisting of a large service duct, lavatories, four lift shafts
31.
The Cube (building)
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The Cube is a 25 storey mixed-use development in the centre of Birmingham, England. Designed by Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE Architects, it contains 135 flats,111,500 square feet of offices, shops, a hotel and it is the final phase of The Mailbox development. The site is enclosed by The Mailbox complex, Commercial Street, Washington Wharf apartment complex, as the final stage of The Mailbox development, Birmingham Development Company Ltd. decided to organise a design competition for a building on the site. The winning design was submitted by Birmingham-born architect Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE Architects, plans for The Cube were first submitted to Birmingham City Councils Planning Department on 31 August 2005 for outline planning permission. A six-week public consultation stage was implemented immediately, and the application received outline planning permission from the Planning Committee on 7 February 2006. Full planning permission was granted by the Planning Committee on 7 August 2006, the project was originally scheduled to be completed in 2008, but has been delayed. Construction company, Taylor Woodrow had won the project from Sir Robert McAlpine and Miller Construction, due to other contractors being deterred by the complexity of the design, BDC decided to establish their own subsidiary contractor, BuildAbility. This led Building magazine to dub the project Britains biggest DIY job, employees of Build Ability are being offered a 60% share of the profits of The Cube as an incentive to encourage recruitment. Preparation for construction commenced in 2007 with the clearance of all structures on site, a large diameter auger piling technique was used to install 226,900 mm diameter piles at 1,050 mm spacings and to depths of 24 m. BSL skipped three piles – after installing the first pile – to avoid concrete flowing into the next borehole, due to the presence of groundwater when the piles were bored, a Tremie pipe was used which displaced water to the surface as the bore hole was filled with concrete. Along the western boundary of the site, a further 54 minipiles were installed to a depth of 12 m to further support Washington Wharf. BSL then constructed 30 king post piles to provide the foundation for a ramp which was required for future building works. Each king post pile was formed in a 900 mm diameter pile and these piles ran in two parallel rows down the centre of the site from Commercial Street. With all the piling works complete, excavation commenced on site by local firm ODonnell. A total of 60,000 m3 of earth and sandstone was removed from the site, once this had been completed, BSL returned to construct 12 temporary anchors to hold back the retaining piles on the east side of the site. BSL completed the project at the end of 2007. BuildAbility then subcontracted work for the construction of the shell to ODonnell. ODonnell used a construction technique in partnership with PERI Ltd. to construct the cores, columns
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Five Ways Tower
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Five Ways Tower is a 23 storey commercial building on a 2. The building was completed in 1979, several hotels expressed interest in acquiring the building from its owners, since its solid concrete design could be converted into a business class hotel. The building is vacant due to the last tenants evacuating the building due to ill health amongst the workforce, the building has in excess of 100,000 sqft of existing net office space, six lifts, basement storage, and a double height floor at the top. The building has a carpark for approximately 200 cars allocated to the Tower, the buildings architect was Philip Bright of the Property Services Agency. Andy Foster described it as being similar to the work of James Stirling, list of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Emporis entry Skyscrapernews entry
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Hyatt Regency Birmingham
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The Hyatt Regency Birmingham is a hotel on Broad Street in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Hyatt Regency Birmingham stands at a height of 75 metres 24 floors and has 319 guest rooms, the hotel has a blue glass exterior facade, and stands across the road from the International Convention Centre. The hotel Food & Beverage offering includes The Gentleman & Scholar Pub and Terrace, Aria Restaurant, the amala Spa & Club includes six treatments rooms and a dedicated nail bar. The leisure facilities of the also include a 16-metre swimming pool, sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi, whirlpool. Hyatt Regency Birmingham has 8 meeting rooms, the hotel was built, and is run by, Hyatt Regency Birmingham Ltd. This company is a partnership between the Hyatt Corporation, Trafalgar House, and Birmingham City Council. The hotel cost £37 million to build, with £1.5 million of that provided by the city, which also donated the building site. In April 2002, the company put the building up for sale. In November 2002, the hotel was sold to London Plaza Hotels for £27.5 million, Birmingham City Council made a £5 million profit on the sale, from its 17. 5% stake in the hotel, which it used to pay off debt. The hotel was constructed to have close ties to the International Convention Centre. This easy to secure link was one factor in attracting the 24th G8 summit to the city, the Hyatt Hotels Corporation bought the hotel out of administration in 2012 for £27 million. In 2014, they made a £6 million investment into the hotel included a new pub with a heated terrace which opens onto Broad Street - The Gentleman & Scholar Pub. In 2016, the hotel was brought by a Middle East investment group for £38.6 million, the hotel will keep its Hyatt Regency branding. The purchaser plans to spend approximately £2.7 million over the three years on improving the venue. Reflected glory in heart of the city, Its one of Birminghams landmark buildings and now its had a multi-million pound facelift
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Centre City Tower (Birmingham)
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Centre City Tower is a commercial building in the city centre of Birmingham, England, owned by Bruntwood. Several companies have offices in the building, including Ofwat and Virgin Trains, the buildings architects were Richard Seifert and Partners. The Centre City complex consists of two buildings, the Tower and the Podium, the Podium is a low-rise building that surrounds the Tower base, but there is no direct connection between the two. This arrangement means that the first floor of the Tower is at approximately seventh-floor level when compared with other buildings, when first constructed, the Podium contained at ground level a nightclub and a theatre. The theatre was a requirement of the City Council, who stipulated that a public amenity should be provided as a condition of granting planning permission, before building work commenced, the lost theatre was featured in an article in the UK trade journal New Civil Engineer. This may explain why the street at the back of the building is called Theatre Approach though the next door of the former Tatler Theatre may be a more convincing explanation. The Podium exterior was cleaned in mid-2006 using a power-washer, list of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Emporis entry Skyscrapernews entry
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Snowhill
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Snowhill, as it is spelt by the developers, is a mixed-use development in the Colmore business district, known historically as Snow Hill, in Birmingham, England. The area, between Snow Hill Queensway and Birmingham Snow Hill station, is being redeveloped by the Ballymore Group, the £500 million phased scheme has been partly completed on the site of a former surface car park adjacent to the railway station and Midland Metro terminus. Phase Two, One Snowhill, a 260,000 sq ft,57 m tall building with 13 floors was completed in 2009. The building was acquired by Commerz Real in January 2010, tenants are KPMG, Barclays Banking Group and Solicitors DWF. Phase Three, Two Snowhill, at 75 m in height with 14 floors, was completed in May 2013, the building comprises 313,000 sq ft of office space and 8,000 sq ft of ground floor retail space. Two Snowhill was acquired by Hines in April 2011 The building was developed in conjunction with Ballymore and it is currently occupied by leading international law firm, Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co. HS2 have also become tenants to base Birmingham operations for the new high speed rail project from here, i2 are the final, current tenant to occupy Two Snowhill. Phase Four, Plans for a five star hotel and residential apartments are currently on hold due to financing issues with investors as a result of the economic downturn. No date has been set for work to recommence, in the medium term, the area will be landscaped. Located near to Colmore Row, the site was owned by the Colmore family who owned large areas of land to the north of the present city centre. The family began to establish road layouts and sell plots of land to builders in the 18th century, the site was one of these plots and it became the location of Oppenheims Glassworks. This is the earliest documented glassworks in Birmingham, the glassworks were built in 1757 by Mayer Oppenheim, a London merchant who moved to Birmingham in the same year and who patented red glass in 1755. The building ceased to be used as a glasshouse after 1780/81, the site was later cleared to make way for the new Birmingham Snow Hill station. In 1970, Snow Hill station was redeveloped and the became a surface car park. The four acre site runs along the edge of Birmingham Snow Hill station. To the north, the site is bounded by Great Charles Street Queensway and St. Chads Circus on the Inner Ring Road, to the south the site is bounded by Colmore Circus. It is located between the City Core and the Gun and Jewellery Quarters, the level of the site drops significantly from Colmore Circus to St. Chads Circus and also drops from Snow Hill Queensway to the railway station. There are a number of buildings in the immediate vicinity including 1 Snow Hill Plaza
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One Snow Hill Plaza
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One Snow Hill Plaza is a highrise hotel in Birmingham, England. It is 72 metres tall and was completed in 1973, in 2013 the building was renovated and became a 224-room hotel under the brand Holiday Inn Express. It receives the name Kennedy Tower from the dedicated to John F. Kennedy which was located in Snow Hill Circus until it was removed in mid-2006. It forms a prominent addition on the skyline when viewed from the north, in November 2007, Kenmore Property Ltd. announced plans to demolish the tower and replace it with a 118-metre office tower, by holding a public consultation for the proposal. The plans superseded an earlier proposal for a 12 storey office tower on the site 2 Snow Hill Plaza, the new tower was designed by Hamiltons Architects and provides 54,000 m2 of office space and 4,000 m2 of retail space. This would make it the largest office tower outside London, construction was expected to start in 2009 and to be completed in 2011. However, in November 2009, Kenmore Property Group were placed into administration, rob Caven and Martin Ellis of Grant Thornton UK LLP were appointed joint administrators of 21 of Kenmores companies, and joint receivers of two others. The Snow Hill Plaza site was put on the market by the administrators in March 2010
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Quayside Tower
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Quayside Tower is a modern commercial building in Birmingham, England. It is situated on Broad Street, one of Birminghams busiest streets and it forms a prominent part of the Broad Street skyline which consists of many other highrise buildings. Originally built in 1965 to a design by John Madin, it was refurbished in 2003 to a design by Richard Johnson & Associates to give it a fashionable appearance. Ashford Construction stripped all sixteen floors above the podium and added a new curtain walling from the top downwards and this produced a new roof feature which was designed by Watts & Partners. A new reception area was constructed and the 240 space car park was refurbished and it was developed by Kenmore Group. The tower has an area of 11,148 square metres with 8,918.4 square metres available for let once refurbishment was completed. List of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Emporis entry Skyscrapernews entry
38.
Colmore Gate
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Colmore Gate is an office and retail building in Birmingham, England. An example of early 1990s architecture by the Seymour Harris Partnership, the shaft is on the outside of the building. The design blends a traditional look with modern materials and style and it is situated in the heart of the business district of Birmingham. The building is home to large companies. The building sits on the footprint of the old Greys department store. The building was constructed after the developers bought the patch of land off another developing company whilst they were constructing a building there, the structure of a building was on the site and it was taken down before construction of Colmore Gate began. List of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Emporis entry Skyscrapernews entry
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The McLaren Building
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McLaren is a 69-metre,21 storey tall office building in Birmingham, England. Designed by Philip Bonham Associates and built in 1972, it is a thin brown office building, originally it housed part of the staff training department of Midland Bank, now HSBC. The building is owned by property company Bruntwood who purchased it from the Birmingham Alliance in 2008 and it is situated on the edge of two redevelopment sites to the south and east. Masshouse to the east and Martineau Galleries to the south are due to be redeveloped at some time in the future, the entrance is on Priory Queensway, and near the junction with Moor Street Queensway. During 2009 the building was renovated with its exterior glazing given a fresh look, as at December 2012 the building is 65% occupied
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Metropolitan House
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Metropolitan House, also known as 1 Hagley Road, is a commercial building that is being developed into apartments in Birmingham, England. It is situated on the A456 Hagley Road at Five Ways and it was designed by John Madin. The building hosts several radio transmitting antennas on its roof and these include, Capital Birmingham -102.2 MHz FM CE Digital - Block 11C,220. Seven Capital acquired 1 Hagley Road in August 2013 and optimised the planning consent to 271 flats with no alterations to the exterior of the building, one, two and three bedroom apartments will be marketed at between £130,000 and £250,000. List of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Emporis entry Skyscrapernews entry Transmission Gallery entry
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Edgbaston House
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Edgbaston House is a highrise commercial building in on Duchess Place, Birmingham. It was built by Laing Development Co Ltd. and the engineers were Ove Arup. It was the result of work by Calthorpe Estates to attract businesses to the Hagley Road and it is part of the Duchess Place estate which consists of office blocks totalling 200,000 sq ft. They are owned by the Kenmore Group, who acquired the estate from Chelsfield, tenants of the building include the Islamic Bank of Britain and various medical groups. List of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Emporis entry
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The Colmore Building
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The Colmore Building, formerly known as Colmore Plaza, is a 14-storey office building in the Colmore Business District area of Birmingham City Centre. The Colmore Building is a Grade A office building spread over 14 storeys and it can accommodate lettings of up to 104,000 sq ft across 23,000 sq ft floor plates and has a BREEAM environmental and sustainability rating of Excellent. There are around 500 companies located in the Colmore Business District, employing up to 35,000 people, AshbyCapital secured an £80m loan with AgFe to fund the deal. AshbyCapitals other investments include 200 Aldersgate, a 434,005 sq ft building in the City of London. In January 2016, AshbyCapital announced a £3. 5m enhancement programme and relaunched the building under the new name, the Colmore Building website AshbyCapital website Colmore Business District website
43.
Jurys Inn Birmingham
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The Jurys Inn is a hotel building on Broad Street, Birmingham, England. Built using concrete cladding and steel joists, this building was part of the plan to redevelop Birmingham in the 1960s, construction commenced in 1974 and was completed the following year to a design by Ian Fraser of John Roberts & Partners. It is one of the tallest buildings on Broad Street and forms a prominent part of the city skyline when viewed from the south and it is a rare example of Brutalist architecture in Birmingham, with other similar examples being Birmingham Central Library and New Street Station Signal Box. The hotel itself is a 3 star branch with 445 rooms, on the ground floor is a pub and a restaurant. The hotel opened on February 1,1999 after a £12 million refurbishment from a building into a hotel. It was bought by the Jurys Inns hotel chain in 2001 for £42 million, list of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham Bartlam, Norman, Carl Chinn
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Baskerville House
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Baskerville House, previously called the Civic Centre, is a former civic building in Centenary Square, Birmingham, England. The site was occupied by the home of John Baskerville. He was buried nearby in the area which was known as Easy Hill, when the construction of a canal through the area was proposed, Baskervilles body was exhumed and found to be in good condition. It was placed on display to the public before being buried at Christ Church, the site adjacent to the canal, on the site of Baskerville House, was purchased by the Birmingham Aluminium Company who constructed Baskerville Basin. Gibsons Basin was also constructed nearby to serve a rolling mill, the city council bought the land in 1919 for a new Civic Centre. Baskerville Basin was filled in but Gibsons Basin remained, however, in 1936, Winfields Ltd decided to relocate to Icknield Port after taking over Vivians Rolling Mills. They abandoned the remainder of Gibsons Basin to Birmingham City Council who filled it in for their Civic Centre plans, in 1926, the city council organised an open competition for the new layout of the Civic Centre, however, many of the designs were deemed Too Ambitious. As a result, the city engineer was asked to work with the architects of the Hall of Memory, S. N. Cooke, cecil Howitt of Nottingham was asked to design the first building, which was to become Baskerville House. This was approved in 1936 and construction began in 1938, world War II halted construction of Baskerville House, and after the war the use of Roman Imperial imagery on public buildings went out of fashion. A1941 model of the proposed Civic Centre, designed by William Haywood, the building is decorated with the Coat of arms of Birmingham. Formerly offices for parts of Birmingham City Council, including the Planning Department and Economic Development Department, remained vacant for several years after the City Council vacated the property in the spring of 1998. The initial refurbishment plan proposed conversion to a Radisson Edwardian Hotel, a feasibility study into whether it was possible to locate the Central Library was carried out, and the building was deemed to not be suitable as it would not be strong enough to hold all the books. The building was sold to Targetfollow who proposed to convert into offices. This was approved and it was gutted and extended two floors upwards to provide office space on seven floors, and a health club in the basement. Work started in August 2003 and was completed in early 2007 at an estimated cost of £30 million, there is 195,108 sq ft of office space within the building with floorplates of 27,000 sq ft. The two new floors are of steel and glass, a lighting scheme was added to the exterior by Hoare Lea Lighting of the Hoare Lee group who were also commissioned for other aspects of the build. The building won the Commercial Development of the Year award at the Midlands Property Week awards in July 2007, the building also won the Midlands and East Anglia regional award in the Refurbished/Recycled Workplace category at the British Council for Offices awards in October 2007. A statue of King Edward VII was moved to a plinth near the South-West corner of the building in November 2010, a sculpture of the Baskerville typeface, Industry and Genius, in honour of John Baskerville stands outside the main entrance to Baskerville House in Centenary Square
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Steelhouse Lane police station
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Steelhouse Lane police station is a police station in central Birmingham, England. It was built for the Birmingham City Police and opened in 1933 as their Central Police Station and it remains in use by their successor, the West Midlands Police, but is proposed for closure and sale. The carvings over the entrances, including the coat of arms of Birmingham, are by the local sculptor William Bloye, the station sits on a plot of land at the rear of the former Victoria Law Courts, which was originally acquired for the extension of the court building. The station sits in Birmingham City Councils Steelhouse Lane conservation area, a tunnel links the cell block to the courts. The station is now a divisional headquarters for the West Midlands Police, the City of Birmingham Orchestra, held its first rehearsal in the band room at the old station, at 9. 30am on 4 September 1920. For around sixty years, until closed in 2005, the station housed a private bar, the police station closed for the final time on Sunday 15 January 2017
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Chamberlain Clock
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The Chamberlain Clock is an Edwardian, cast-iron, clock tower in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, England. It was erected in 1903 to mark Joseph Chamberlains tour of South Africa between 26 December 1902 and 25 February 1903, after the end of the Second Boer War, the clock was unveiled during Chamberlains lifetime, in January 1904 by Mary Crowninshield Endicott, Joseph Chamberlains third wife. Standing at the junction of Vyse and Frederick Streets with Warstone Lane, it is now a local landmark, Chamberlain had been a resident on Frederick Street and had also helped jewellers through his campaign work to abolish Plate Duties - a tax affecting jewellery tradesmen of the time. The timepiece was originally powered by a winding handle. It was later adapted to electricity but fell into disrepair and lost its chime and it was fully restored in 1989
