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Birmingham Co-op Belmont Row

For those that don't know this Belmont Works building is part of a massive redevelopment of Eastside that has been going on for about 10 years.

This web site below gives a great overhead shot of how the area has been redeveloped.


If you go to the SECOND photo on the web site above you can look at the area in a "before and after" mode.

On that photo you can see a small white arrow, and you can drag this arrow across the photo to see it in before and after mode.

Drag it to the right and you get the "before" and drag it to the left and you get the "after".

Huge changes planned as you can see in the "after" photo.

Many of the buildings in the "after" shot have already been built, but some are yet to be built.

You can see the HS2 line (assuming they build it) coming in at the bottom of the photo, with the huge HS2 station up by the old Curzon St station and Moor St Station.
 
Yes Lyn, over the years I have watched this building fall apart, so it will be nice to see it restored
 
Yes Lyn, over the years I have watched this building fall apart, so it will be nice to see it restored


i agree mort...it does make a nice change to see a building being restored instead of demolished...just a pity that these happenings are very few and far between

lyn
 
Wow! Now that's really lifted my spirits this morning. As you say Lyn, it's nice to see something being restored. Usually 'someone' sets fire to something and the next thing we know it's beyond repair and has been demolished.
 
Very good news, especially as it was damaged by fire in 2014. Just shows that all is not sometimes lost. I suppose it’s just too easy (and costly) to think a building is so damaged it can’t be rescued Viv.
 
Got some photos of the Belmont Row Works with scaffolding after a walk around the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and Digbeth Branch Canal (Gun Quarter to Eastside).





Some maps are saying where I got off was Penn Street and Gopsal Street. Another map shows Pitt Street instead of Penn Street.
 
Looks almost like a hopeless case. Thank goodness it’s being worked on now and not left to fall down. Look forward to seeing new life brought to it. Viv.
 
I thought it would never happen after the last decade of inactivity there. The other Eastside Locks plots need building on as well.
 
Wow, don’t think I’ve ever seen so much scaffolding around one building. Must be, literally, holding it up. Viv.
 
As it was such a lovely sunny day today (Thursday 20th August 2020) I decided to go up to Birmingham for the first time in months.

Here are some photos of the Belmont Row factory.

This development is called SteamHouse 2 and is a Birmingham City University project. It will be home for the University's School of Computing as well as a base for SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprizes) who work in the digital arena.

Photo 1 below shows the side of the building taken from Belmont Row. You can see the older building on the left and the newer part on the right.

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Photo 2 below still shows the side of the building but concentrating on the older part of the building

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Photo 3 below, as I move round from Belmont Row in to Gopsal Street you get his view.

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Photo 4 below, still in Gopsal Street but now zoomed in on the front of the old building.

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Photo 5 below, I have now moved round to Cardigan Street and am now facing the building.

As you can see clearly here, layers and layers of scaffolding, but as it is just a shell of a building I guess they cant be too careful.

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This site was originally Co-Op furniture factory, but at a later date it was used in the production of Scales under the name Co-operative Wholesale Society, hence CWS. There were loads of scales that never made it out of the place still down in the basement.
The tower which is described in the above article was never used as a chimney, it was a water tower with a huge cast iron water tank at the top, similar to most building of the period. There were/are stair on the inside which climb part way up, then an external ladder to the top!
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Just found your post re. Coop Belmont Row. During 60's 70' I was working as a service engineer for a cash register company named 'Cash Machines Ltd' who distributed 'HUGIN' cash registers mainly to Cooperative Societies around the UK. We were based previously along with CWS scales at the CWS cycle factory in Kings Road Haymills. Along with the the scales dept. we moved to Belmont Row to take advantage of the much larger premises. Also the office and admin staff of the CWS cycle moved to the same premise. The B/w photo is my own creation taken in 1957, the cash register pic is of one of our products but the photo is not mine and I could not find the originator so can't give credit.
 
Amazing transformation from what was virtually a shell. From earlier images it looks like only the front of the building was left after the fire. Nice work to part rebuild/maintain the decorative frontage. Viv.
 
It does look good. Phil (now no longer with us) always said that for a reasonably well built building that posed no problem, other than a reluctance to spend more money . It is a pity that more people are not prepared to spend a little more to save our heritage.. there is an extra cost, but the reults would be a much longer life than the plasterboard and glass shacks being erected elesewhere.
 
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