Bullring: A case study of retail-led urban renewal and its contribution to city centre regeneration

Just ten years ago, Birmingham was seen as the ugly sister of British cities: run-down, congested and unappealing to visitors. Thanks to a series of pioneering urban regeneration projects, the city is being rapidly transformed, with canal-side offices and restaurants at Brindleyplace rubbing shoulders with buzzing bars on Broad Street and the exciting Symphony Hall. However, one problem remained: the city's limited retail offer was not on a par with the international standard of its business and cultural facilities. One of Birmingham City Council's key objectives was to redress this balance, and more importantly, to stem the flow of shoppers and the associated economic benefits from travelling out of the city. Here, developer Jon Emery discusses Bullring — Birmingham's new retail and leisure destination and its largest city centre regeneration project to date. The lessons learned from Bullring are already shaping the next generation of city centre urban regeneration projects. One vital ingredient stands out: the way in which the city as a whole embraced and supported the creation of Bullring. The experience has shown that future regeneration projects need to articulate an appetite for change if success is to be achieved and sustained.