Birmingham is seizing its moment to drive real change

在2022年英联邦运动会前夕，看到伯明翰的活力和协作精神是一种不可思议的体验。它向我展示了社区、建筑和城市建设结合起来的力量，它超越了任何一个项目，跨越了规模和时间，影响并丰富了人们的生活。

在Glenn Howells建筑事务所，我们非常自豪能够在Perry Barr住宅项目的开发中发挥自己的作用，与我们的客户伯明翰市议会以及项目合作伙伴Arcadis and Lendlease Construction合作。

Perry Barr is a legacy-building project for Birmingham, which will have a long and lasting positive impact for the city and its people. Not only will it deliver much needed homes in a new neighbourhood hub for both present and future residents, it will also create new jobs, improve local skillsets and open up additional apprenticeship opportunities, substantively delivering on the ambitious social value charter set out by the city.

直到10年前，位于伯明翰北部郊区的佩里巴尔(Perry Barr)一直是伯明翰城市大学(Birmingham City University)的校园。然而，一旦大学开始将校园搬迁到市中心，学生人口的撤离，加上经济增长不足，使这个地方中心陷入衰退。

Subsequently, the city identified Perry Barr in its strategic plan as an area needing long-term intervention, with the recent public sector investment towards active transport and green infrastructure being a catalyst in accelerating this plan.

Perry Barr是一个典型的城市棕地，在当地和城市规模上都不相连，处于理想的位置，可以从这项投资中获益;这是一个千载难逢的机会来改变这个当地的中心，并将其带入城市的复兴之旅。

然而，由于交付时间与Covid-19大流行相一致，市议会面临着许多挑战。它必须召集项目团队和管理承包商来交付住宅方案，同时进行利益相关者的参与，并管理交付的采购。

The tight schedule of reviews, approvals and coordination only encouraged the team to work closely together

All this in addition to delivering other projects including the Alexander Stadium, a new bus interchange, and major highway improvements – each of them as important as the next in an interconnected vision of city-wide regeneration.

The Arcadis team took up the challenge to deliver, and our experience with similar neighbourhood-scale projects at Port Loop in the west of the city, and Royal Wharf and London City Island in London, made us a strong design partner. The tight schedule of reviews, approvals, and coordination only encouraged the team to work closely together from the outset.

The redevelopment plan for this area is to deliver 1,414 homes in phase one, of which 968 are being built across the four plots under-construction, and include a mixed tenure of affordable homes, both for market sale and build-to-rent, as well as homes for later living; a multi-generational offer from the outset.

As this initial phase develops and flourishes as a new healthy and inclusive neighbourhood, further phases will be unlocked as part of the Perry Barr 2040: A Vision for Legacy masterplan, leading to the potential for 5,000 homes to be built in Perry Barr.

Since we were assigned the project, plot 7 is where our energies have been focused – the gateway plot for the new neighbourhood. It is a family of five brick buildings, with the tallest at 16 storeys. They are arranged to enclose a communal podium garden for residents and establish a new south-facing public forecourt with retail and amenities, linking to the redeveloped Perry Barr rail station.

The city’s bold but decisive approach to remove the concrete flyover has also opened up a new tree-lined promenade, setting the tone for this new development by laying the foundations for a more sustainable, human-centred urban realm to develop.

Of course, each intervention has had to be sensitive to the area’s existing landscape, built environment and assets. Through retaining the existing matured tree population, we helped steer the public open spaces and street patterns around them, while also planting many more trees, so that this urban dynamic can work alongside nature, rather than in place of it.

第一个住宅阶段将为正在进行的和未来的再生创造一个途径，并为所有后续阶段的成功提供最好的机会。新公园包括社区中心、绿树成荫的街道、当地设施、绿色交通基础设施和活跃的旅游链接，以及一系列慷慨的住宅，这一新的景观将成为大大改善住宅供应的催化剂，服务于整个当地社区。

From a housing perspective, Perry Barr will offer new residential typologies for the local community

For us, the design was about creating a meaningful redevelopment around principles of environmental sustainability and community cohesion through shared public spaces, amenities and a community green at its heart. Designing out from this focal point allowed us to introduce design elements that work both as standalone features, and as part of wider city-wide infrastructure networks.

These include active travel routes for cyclists and walkers, public transport links for quick connections to other locations, or access to green space for residents. Along with Port Loop, it reinforces how neighbourhoods with a clear ‘15-minute city’ ethos can work in Birmingham. As part of the ‘Our Future City Plan’ (replacement for the Big City Plan launched in 2011), we hope it becomes a model for future developments, both locally and further afield.

From a housing perspective, Perry Barr will offer new residential typologies for the local community, including modern apartments and urban houses in contemporary brick buildings, catering to a mix of buyers and tenants, including young families. The housing will deliver good levels of daylight, secure ground floor accommodation, adaptable layouts, and generous private and communal amenities to help foster a healthy community - from residents’ lounges to shared podium gardens and rooftop terraces.

Working alongside Lendlease Construction and Vinci Construction on Plot 7, we explored innovative methods that would accelerate the build programme to help overlap the phasing of the buildings within the plot. The simple repeated detailing of the balconies, brickwork and windows provided the opportunity to accelerate procurement with subcontractors while maintaining the build quality of the design.

Perry Barr will become not just an attractive, healthy place to come and live, but a thriving, established and connected part of the wider city

The materiality and detailing is carefully considered and contemporary, yet still manages to pick up on the local rhythms and proportions of its local context – a clear language established from the outset.

Perry Barr成功的一个重要因素是确保这些设施，结合新的住宅、景观和旅游基础设施，重新设计以满足新的人口结构，同时支持现有的社区。一旦这些元素开始综合，社区开始成熟成为一个中心，城市主义的动力开始接管，佩里巴尔将不仅成为一个有吸引力的、健康的地方来生活，而且成为更广泛的城市的一个繁荣、成熟和连接的部分。

Designing urban landscapes is as much about shaping moments in time as it is about shaping space, and we’re delighted to have played our part in this process, seizing the moment to ensure Perry Barr goes on to be a sustainable, community-centred neighbourhood, embodying Birmingham’s aspirations and ambitions as a leading international city.