Young Planners Conference 2023 - study tours

Perry Barr is the home of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, having hosted the Opening Ceremony, Athletics and Closing Ceremony events at the Alexander Stadium. Over one year on from the Games, we will consider what role planning and stakeholder engagement has had, and will continue to have, to ensure the legacy of this now internationally recognised area. Join this study tour to explore key sites in Perry Barr with members of the team responsible for delivering the world-class legacy aspirations of this area.

Kindly sponsored by Arup

Home to over 700 jewellers and independent retailers, a thriving food and drink scene, it is considered to include the most extensive group of Victorian and 20th century buildings devoted to jewellery manufacture and small goods in Europe. The Jewellery Quarter is in the process of becoming an increasingly residential, mixed-use neighbourhood. This walking tour will explore how the area is seeking to retain and enhance its business ecosystem and historic character whilst welcoming new residents and uses.

Step into the domain of the Peaky Blinders and explore Birmingham’s canals (more canals than Venice…); see first-hand how they have been used as assets to mobilise large-scale regeneration projects and create new leisure opportunities and habitats in the city centre. This walking tour will showcase how developers, public and third sectors have collaborated to create a vibrant blend of old and new along the canals, including vibrant modern restaurants, cafes and bars as well as Port Loop, Birmingham’s award winning island community.

Since grant of planning consent for the mixed-use regeneration of the former Central Library in 2013, the Paradise development is delivering a transformational mixed use development and quality public realm in Birmingham’s civic heart, adjacent to Grade I Town Hall and Grade II* Council House, City Museum and Art Gallery. This tour will provide a whistlestop overview of the site’s history, current development milestones achieved and set out the future of the regeneration scheme. There will be opportunity to hear from Glenn Howells Architects as lead masterplanner and MEPC as lead developer of this £700m project.

Kindly sponsored by Turley and Howells

Digbeth is renowned for being the cultural heartbeat of Birmingham, having evolved in recent years as a key nightlife and cultural economy hub. What role does planning have in both supporting and enhancing this status? The past few years has seen a number of major development proposals come forward in the area, which promise exciting, place-led proposals for mixed-use regeneration. This tour unpacks recent projects and provides an insight into the relationships between heritage, industry, nightlife, connectivity and more.

Kindly sponsored by Lambert Smith Hampton

Coventry City Council and its partners are leading on the regeneration of its city centre through developments including the Friargate commercial district, new mixed-use residential neighbourhood at City Centre South and recent restoration of its groundbreaking postwar retail precinct. This tour will explore the city has built on the momentum of its UK City of Culture 2021 status and using the city's heritage and culture to create a place that is unique, playful and one of a kind.