Second City Transformation : Part Two.

Following on from the dramatic changes which have happened around Brindley Place for the last decade or so, more announcements about new developments have been made recently.

As a part of the Eastside development which is set to transform an area of 420 acres, five times the size of Brindley Place, east of the city centre, the area around Warwick Bar is being redeveloped. Warwick Bar Warehouse, formerly Geest's banana warehouse, is being rebuilt with its original cast iron column frontage retained and the blocked off arm reinstated. The stoplock between the Digbeth Branch of the BCN and the former Warwick & Birmingham (now part of the Grand Union) Canal is to be restored and re gated. The plans show new buildings around the banana warehouse standing around an open space next to the former basin between the warehouse and Fazeley Street. The round cornered Fellows, Morton & Clayton warehouse is also to be kept and redeveloped.

The Islington Gates development next to the Farmers Bridge lock flight on the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal, nearly opposite the old Science Museum, will consist of 131 apartments together with shops and restaurants. An artist's impression of the scheme shows a most un-canal-like footbridge linking the new buildings with the towpath. Described as " Birmingham's answer to London's Millennium Bridge", it features a 'ring' design to celebrate its proximity to the Jewellery Quarter and will be illuminated at night. Let's hope it's a bit more stable than its precursor.

Oompah,Oomph.

The former British Waterways Board Street Depot at the top of the Wolverhampton Twenty One, which has had a chequered existence since BW gave it up in 1996, has once more transformed itself. Its latest manifestation is as a "Bier Keller".

Owen Street Bridge Reopens.

The bridge over the Old Main Line at the top of Owen Street, Tipton, which had been closed since Christmas, opened again in early April. At a cost of £800,000 it has been strengthened and restored and can now accommodate 40 tonne vehicles. This may yet have repercussions on the New Main Line as Councillor Keith Davies stated " Repairs to (the) bridge are critical to the future of Tipton's road system. Plans to build an underpass below the railway line (to replace the level crossing at the bottom of Owen Street) are dependent on having other suitable access routes into the town. Therefore, by strengthening this bridge, we are helping to move these plans forward." As our Tipton Correspondent, Kevin Maslin, pointed out in these pages a few issues ago, there's a canal next to the railway line, what are they going to do about that ?