Birmingham Smithfield 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.
Despite public backing from over 10,000 supporters for such transformative green space in the heart of Birmingham, it soon became clear that the then council administration were intent on sticking to the general template of the 2016 Masterplan. This ultimately resulted in an outline planning application from Lendlease being granted in 2024, containing just a small residential park, which itself was only won thanks to our initial campaign. And although the circular Manor Square now has its own green lawn, the total area of green space amounts to just 2 hectares or 12% of the site (see figure). However given a starting point of 0% green space when our campaign started back in 2015, public pressure has clearly made an impact, giving us the belief that we should continue to push for more green space at Smithfield.
Council approved design for green space at Smithfield (12%)
CityPark4Brum design for green space at Smithfield (25%)
Our new plan is to double the green space at Smithfield to 25%. With outline planning granted, there is still the opportunity for further changes as more detailed plans for different parts of the site are submitted. Therefore we have produced a new indicative design to connect the green space at Smithfield and double its size to 25% (ca. 10 acres). This design connects Manor Square with the area occupied by Smithfield Park (see figure) but with the wider Smithfield site still able to accommodate most of the building footprints proposed by the developer Lendlease. This is a pragmatic solution for all parties. Connecting the two open space areas in such a way would still deliver on the council's plans for Smithfield, involving housing, retail and businesses, while an accessible park for all citizens and visitors (not just local residents) would be placed at its centre, creating a public and inclusive green hub at the heart of our city.