Wholesale Markets

Is that 1:1 scale?

Seriously, though, I hadnt realised the site was so enormous

Sorry, have resized!

Its a big chunk of Real Estat though, the sale of that could pay for a new Library!

Big enough for a stadium? i love stadia in city centres. Like St James' Park. And the Bernabeu.

pauliewalnuts said:

Big enough for a stadium? i love stadia in city centres. Like St James' Park. And the Bernabeu.

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St James park is the very reason i feel stadia should not be in city centres

Why so?

the entire skylines cominated by a stadium, blocks one side of the city off from the toher, the city centre becomes a no-go area every other saturday with 50,000 peoples flooding into the city centre, the noise.....infact i cant think of one reason why anyone would want a stadium in the city centre

I think maybe not a stadium, but a sporting venue, In the US they have lots of these Micro-stadia right in the centre of major cities, usually containing Ice Hockey, Basketball, boxing etc. As they are usually held in the evening, it means an additional 5-10,000 on the streets, not all of whom immeadiately get in their car and go home. Although the NIA is great, I cant help lament that there isn't much interaction between it and its surroundings, mainly because all the parking is on-site and it is miles away from a train station, I think here you would be able to argue no on-site parking would be needed, encouraging people to mix in with the rest of the area, and helping create that 24 hour city we keep talking about!

It already is a Micro-Stadia it's got the Birmingham Bullets ice ring, hasn't it?

huge site, needs redevolpment!

Is there an ice ring in Brum? I thought the nearest one was in Telford.

i wonder if the planet ice redevelopment will hake in the derelct polt on the corner..i hope so.....ripe for development

Stephen Robinson said:

It already is a Micro-Stadia it's got the Birmingham Bullets ice ring, hasn't it?

huge site, needs redevolpment!

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Yes, it's a huge site and has lots of potential for redevelopment. FYI the Birmingham Bullets are a basketball team and currently play at a leisure centre in Chelmsley Wood, so in Solihull not Birmingham at all.

Some sporting or leisure facilities would be welcome on this site, and given it's size it could accomodate a full-sized stadia. The points woodhousen raises are valid ones, but part of St James Park dominating the Newcastloe skyline and blocking part of the city is it's position and the lack of other tall buildings. A stadium here wouldn't dominate Bhams skyline and may even add to it, and could be laid out to fit into it's surroundings. The point about making it a no-go area is a sad reflection on football fans. I've been to Cardiff Arms Park in the centre of, well ... Cardiff obviously, and it was a fantastic atmosphere, but thats Rugby, you get a better class of hooligan.

So although it could be absolutely spectacular to have a new football/cricket/atheletics stadium and concert venue right in the heart of the city, bang next to the Bullring, I think the value of the land, the potential of the site, the potential crowd problems and the ability of a stadium to regenerate some of the brownfield land east of the city argue against it.

woodhousen said:

i wonder if the planet ice redevelopment will hake in the derelct polt on the corner..i hope so.....ripe for development

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I hope the Planet Ice development will take in the derelict plot on the corner of Pershore and Upper Dean Streets, it's currently an eyesore. Planet Ice burned out in a fire about seven years ago, it's on Pershore St at the back of the Arcadian. The structure of the building is still secure though, I went inside last year and it's just a burnt out shell, but safe.

Wasn't there going to be a ice ring at Arena Central?

Retail in Wolverhampton on a Saturday is awful when a match is on. People try to stay out of town.

i never knew planet ice burnt out....so many good memories

mahill said:

Yes, it's a huge site and has lots of potential for redevelopment. FYI the Birmingham Bullets are a basketball team

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Oopsie! I meant the Ice Hocky team! I'm not very good at this..

The last thing we want in this site is another huge building taking up 3 whole city blocks. What we need is the site to be divided up into sensible sized chunks with greenspace and pedestrian and vehicular access to reintegrate this area back into the city. Not another monolythic building like a football stadium.

What i hope we see is a new division of vehicle routes arround the markets that turns upper dean st into a one way route as it's a mess the busses can hardly get arround as it is and it's near grid lock many rush hours and often on the weekend.

The site is huge it can be used for many different uses but i'd doubt we'd get many tall buildings as it's in the digbeth/deritend valley and would go against the tall buildings policy that says they should stay on the citys ridges so maintaining sitelines etc over the southside of the city.

Such a huge site and so much scope. I think something special should be placed here but definitely retain some market element. There will of course be the ubiquitous apartment blocks, but I could feel a large park/square bit being necessary too - we don't have any HUGE squares...

Engels

Your point, for me is fantastic, there is an opportunity here to open up the road system in and out of the cities Southside. I also agree with your point about the non-need of 1 massive building. I would favour the development of a leisure orientated scheme on here to compliment Bull Ring.

mahill said:

The point about making it a no-go area is a sad reflection on football fans. I've been to Cardiff Arms Park in the centre of, well ... Cardiff obviously, and it was a fantastic atmosphere, but thats Rugby, you get a better class of hooligan.

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This is a pretty outdated view of football supporters, to be honest. I can't remember the last time i saw trouble at a football match in the UK. Dont forget, the Milennium Stadium also hosts football matches (lots of them), and is a very good example of how stadia in city centres can work - they add vitality.