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New Birmingham library plans

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>What a coup to be able to get such a prestigious designer as Francine Houben.

If he is that good why has he designed such an awful building, right next to other buildings that look nothing like it.

I am not against "modern" buildings (I love the Cube), but this is just an ugly lump, with an outside that will soon look awful after a few months of English weather.

I am also against the height, it is far too high for the relatively low buildings around it and will overpower centenary square.
 
Just to go off thread slightly, I have just installed windows 7 on my main machine, and one of the photo options for a screensaver is the Selfridges building.
Wonder if the new library will ever get this accolade.
 
Posted by Len, who will not be donating!. New Birmingham civic library in £34m fundraising appeal

May 4 2010 by Paul Dale, Birmingham Mail



A FUNDRAISING campaign as effective as the appeal launched to buy the Staffordshire Hoard is planned to pay for Birmingham’s controversial new library.
Public donations totalling £900,000 helped secure the Hoard, a collection of Anglo-Saxon gold, for the West Midlands.
But Birmingham City Council wants to raise £34 million from local people and businesses to go towards the £189 million cost of the library in Centenary Square.
Cabinet member Sue Anderson is calling for a huge effort to drum up support for the library across Birmingham and the region.
Coun Anderson (Lib Dem, Sheldon) told a cabinet committee: “Fundraising for the Hoard has been really successful and people felt part of the campaign.
“The same sort of thing needs to happen again for the library.”
She urged Birmingham to be more like major American cities, where public projects are routinely paid for partly by community-based fund raising.
Coun Anderson added: “People must support the library not just by raising their hands but also by supporting it financially.
“We want lots and lots of people each to give a little.”
Council officials have appointed two specialist firms, Havas Sports and Entertainment and Action Planning, to help attract sponsorship.
The local authority is not saying how much it is paying the two firms, but assistant culture director Brian Gambles is confident that the cost of hiring private sector help will be more than outweighed by the amount of money raised.
He revealed that both firms are on just one-month’s notice, enabling the council to terminate contracts quickly if financial targets are not met.
Mr Gambles added: “We have the best possible assurances that income can be achieved.”
The aim is to cover about 18 per cent of the total cost of the library through public subscriptions and private sector sponsorship.
The council wants to further reduce the bill for fit out costs and contingencies by at least £17 million by the time the library opens in 2013.
 
hi len...i shall keep this post as short as possible...when i first saw it i thought it must be some sort of joke...but obviously not:redface: ...i cant beleive what i have just read and i most certainly will not be donating any money either..now had it been the original library in need of restoration to save its closure i would gladly have given every spare penny i have...

thanks for posting this...i find it incredulous reading...

lyn
 
Sorry, but not living in Birmingham , I am unaware as to who this Sue Anderson character is, but. looking at the report ( https://www.birminghampost.net/news...for-new-library-of-birmingham-65233-26299332/ ) of the suggestion, it does look as if it is another attempt to increase the profits of PR firms and similar parasites to the detriment of local ratepayers (sorry counciltax payers - i am a bit ancient !!). I am sure Joseph Chamberlain would be turning in his grave
Mike
 
Here's a novel idea... how about if in future, the residents of Birmingham are given a referendum on such things as 1) Do you want a new library 2) Which design (they must have had design choice like with Spagetti Junction). and 3) These are the proposed choices of location.

Ian
 
Astoness said:
hi ian...yes it is a good idea of yours but i cant see it happening:(
Click to expand...

I agree. It is a good idea. Unfortunately- and I apologise for getting on my political soapbox- but here's why it is unlikely to happen:


· 1 Contrary to popular belief we do not live in a democracy


· 2 The powers that be didn't think of it first


· 3 Ordinary people who come up with such ideas cannot afford the 'incentives' to see them implemented


· 4 It's far too obvious


· 5 Do you really suppose officials, elected and unelected are really going to give up any of their power?

·6 Somebody might ask the awkward question 'Why didn't you think of that?'


I'm sure there are a million other reasons simple solutions are not considered. Why not add your own?
 
While I hate the new library (and where it is ) you have to see it as part of a bigger "masterplan" that involves links between the council and private
developers, lots of money, a redesign of the old library site, and a chance for many new office blocks etc.

Basically:

1) The council are trying to "soften" the concrete collar round central Birmingham (including the inner ring road) to help the city centre to expand and grow.

2) The council see the existing library as a "barrier" which stops the flow of people between the city centre and the convention centre area. While most
of us locals know you can walk "under" the old library to the convention centre area many visitors see the huge old library and think they can go no further.

3) The old library sits on very valuable land (Paradise Circus) that could be sold (some has already been sold) to provide land for new city office blocks. If
the old library (and surrounding buildings) is demolished a new set of buildings will be built in its place, with a wide avenue / walkway between them to allow
people to easily walk from Victoria square to the convention centre area (and vice versa).

So the new library is all part of a much bigger picture which I guess us mere mortals could not hope to understand (and some of the "financial deals" involved
may be secret anyway).

Having said all that above however, I believe the new library is the wrong building, of the wrong size, in the wrong place.

It is far too high for the buildings around it and will dominate (and ruin) centenary square.

Here is the web site for Argent PLC who own much of the site now

https://www.argentgroup.plc.uk/index.cfm/fuse/paradise_circus/

Here is the web site just for Paradise Circus

https://www.paradisecircus.co.uk/
 
guilbert53 said:
While I hate the new library (and where it is ) you have to see it as part of a bigger "masterplan" that involves links between the council and private
developers, lots of money, a redesign of the old library site, and a chance for many new office blocks etc.

Basically:...
Click to expand...

In other words it is less to do with the needs of Brum and its folk and more to do with money and big business. Much like the vandalism the council inflicted on historic Tamworth, my adopted home.

'An adopted Sandyback, but Brummie through and through'
 
Paul Higgins said:
In other words it is less to do with the needs of Brum and its folk and more to do with money and big business.
Click to expand...

Yes, but then money and big business are the driving force for all major projects everywhere in the world.

Birmingham grew rich due to big businessmen like Matthew Boulton.

The original canals in Birmingham were built so that businessmen could get rich shipping goods around the country quicker and cheaper.

The Convention Centre, NIA, Symphony Hall etc would not have been built if the city had not got a huge amount of money from the European Union fund.

And in the end, the more "big businesses" that can be attracted to the city the richer the city becomes and the better it is for all of us.

If all the large companies moved out of Birmingham the city would go downhill rapidly.
 
Guilbert
In your last but one post you specifically named the building of (Yet) more office blocks. There are already plenty of office blocks in the city (and the country). The building of these is often not business in the true sense of the word. They are often left largely empty and allowed to increase in value . Because of this the quality of them is often shoddy, as they are liekly to be pulled down in a few years, possibly before they ahve had any substantial use. Matthew Boulton would not call this business. Unfortunately too many people consider dubious financial fiddles, of the type that would once have resulted in years in prison, as "business".
Mike
 
Surely that amount of light will not be good for the books? It another horrible building to add to Selfridges!!
 
Paul Higgins said:
Well London has its gherkin and now Birmingham has its very own Brillo Pad.


​
Click to expand...
I was thinking along the lines of the existing building minus its concrete outer shell, i.e the re-enforcing bars on show----- but brillo pad is more apt,true brummie style !
 
hi glynis..i think it was under consideration and i dont know what the outcome was but even if it is listed it can still be demolished...being listed does not give a building a preservation order so with a bit of luck it will go ...i just cant see why the powers that be could even consider listing this library when the original never got a second thought :(and its just my opinion but i know which one i would rather still see standing...

lyn
 
hi all..ive just shown my american son in iaw the pics of the the old library...the one we have now and the one to be:rolleyes: wills job is drawing new building designs and also does designing and i really cant post his comments on open thread with regards to the demolision of the original one:rolleyes: surfice to say he is still in tears:( he cant wait to get up to the city centre and see some of the wonderful architecture that we still have...

lyn
 
Astoness said:
hi glynis..i think it was under consideration and i dont know what the outcome was.
Click to expand...

The outcome was that the current library was NOT listed so can be knocked down.

Astoness said:
I just cant see why the powers that be could even consider listing this library when the original never got a second thought.
Click to expand...

The reason they ARE considering saving it is that buildings like the old library WERE knocked down without anyone really asking if that was the right thing to do. So we have learnt from that lesson.

I dont particularly like the current library, however it IS an example of a certain style of building (called Brutalism) and if we knock it down (and all other building of that style) then in 50 years time
WE will be critisized for knocking down all the 1960s and 1970s buildings, in the same was we critisize the people in the 1960s for knocking down all the Victorian buildings.

Remember, in the 1960s the Victorian buildings were considering "old fashioned" so had to go. In the same way Chamberlain knocked down loads of Tudor buildings when he redesigned the city
centre of Birmingham. If he had not done that we may have had more Tudor buildings than Stratford Upon Avon.

Note I am not supporting the idea of saving the current library building (I think it is ugly and brutalism sums it up very well). However it is right that we CONSIDER if it is worth saving as it is an example
of that style of architecture.
 
hi

still cant get my head around this one. With all the cuts the state of the
Finances within Birmingham I cant understand why this project isnt scrapped.
Its totally beyond me but thats me.

Mike Jenks.
 
mike jenks said:
I still cant get my head around this one. With all the cuts the state of the Finances within Birmingham I cant understand why this project isnt scrapped.
Its totally beyond me but thats me.
Click to expand...

I did sort of answer that with my append a week ago here.

https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=23412&p=312562#post312562

Basically the council have sold the land where the existing library is (and some surrounding buildings)

They want to move out of the existing library, move into the new library, then the whole of "paradise circus" will be knocked down and modern office blocks put in its place.

It may even be the owners of the existing Paradise Circus / Library site are part funding the building of the new library.

The quicker they can get their hands on the site the quicker they can build some offices and start making money.
.
 
It doesn't seem so long ago that we got the new library, i never got used to it always preferring the library i grew up with,was it built 60s/70s it doesn't seem that long ago
 
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