REGENERATINGDIGBETH -A WAY FORWARD

Report by Andy MunroDecember 2009

Forward

Both Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and theDigbeth Area have much in common notleast the concentration of creativebusinesses and the fact that both areas arevery historic and unique parts of BirminghamCity albeit slightly rough at the edges – whichis part of their charm.On this basis, I was asked by Clive Dutton(former Director of Planning andRegeneration) to undertake a short Study tosee whether the implementation structureand processes that we have developed in the Jewellery Quarter could partly be replicatedin Digbeth and what were the current issuesin moving forward the regeneration of Digbeth.It should be pointed out that this wasundertaken as extra curricular work and at nocost to BCC. Part of the reason for this wasdue to recognition that Digbeth has sufferedfrom ‘Study’ overload and most people andorganisations interviewed just want to seesome action on the ground rather thanfurther reviews!Andy Munro