Concerns about Birmingham Ringway Centre demolition plans

A digital impression of what the redesigned site would look like

Plans to demolish a piece of Brutalist architecture in Birmingham and replace it with almost 2,000 new flats should be rejected, a councillor has urged.

The Ringway Centre on Smallbrook Queensway was built in the 1960s.

Councillor Phillip Davis said it represented a "significant period" in the city's post-war transformation.

Developers want to replace it with three huge buildings featuring about 1,750 flats, as well as a spa, cinema and nightclub.

In a letter to the planning committee members, Mr Davis said the plans would bring another "bland but overbearing mass to the city centre while wiping out a piece of Birmingham's history".

Instead, the chair of the council's heritage strategy group called for the existing building to be retained and repurposed.

The Ringway Centre as it looks today

Mr Davis's comments echo those made in an open letter signed by 31 key figures in heritage from Birmingham and further afield, calling for the existing building to be reused.

Designed by James Roberts, who also created The Rotunda on New Street, the Ringway Centre is also an example of Brutalist architecture that Birmingham became synonymous with in the 1960s.

"I urge you to block the current proposals to give time for a re-think. If we as councillors are serious about protecting both city heritage and tackling the climate emergency, we must act," Mr Davis wrote.