Birmingham Markets Park
A modern park shaped by Birmingham's past
Our original plan for the park, developed in partnership with Peter Culley from Spatial Affairs Bureau, delivered not only a new signature park for Birmingham that was 50% bigger than the Bullring footprint but also space for housing, markets and cultural attractions. Birmingham's proud market and trading history was acknowledged, with the template of the former horticultural markets used for the central park area and some existing buildings repurposed. In this way, ours was not only a more cost and energy efficient plan, but also one that did not erase Birmingham's history. A medieval moat existing for hundreds of years on the site was reintroduced as part of a water management scheme that feeds the River Rea and a car park from the 20th Century was transformed into an Art Park.
However despite public backing from over 10,000 supporters for this kind of transformative open and green space in the heart of Birmingham, it became clear from our discussions with the council that they intended to stick to the general template of the 2016 masterplan. This contained just a small residential park for Smithfield, which itself was only won thanks to our initial campaign.
Therefore in 2024 we put forward a new alternative indicative design at a Birmingham City Council planning meeting, with the park again centrally located and occupying approximately 25% (ca. 10 acres) of the site but now with the wider Smithfield area able to accommodate most of the building footprints proposed by the developer Lendlease. This design connects Manor Square with the area occupied by Smithfield Park. We believe such a design can be incorporated into the latest Smithfield plans that have been granted outline planning permission by the council - connecting the two open space areas in such a way would still deliver on the council's plans for the site, involving housing, retail and businesses, while placing a park at its centre to create a unique green hub right in the heart of our city.
