Birmingham Consults on its Design Guide

Birmingham City Council has embarked on a consultation in respect of the Draft Birmingham Design Guide which runs from the 24th of November 2020 until 5th February 2021.

The Birmingham Design Guide comprises a suite of 6 documents, with an overarching Design Principles document, and 5 supporting City Manuals. These collectively form the Birmingham Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which sets out detailed design guidance on a range of issues from layouts of buildings and spaces, heritage matters, landscape issues, lighting, advertisements and prioritising active travel. The Design Guide Principles Document outlines the principles development must align with which are supplemented by greater detail in the 5 accompanying Documents focusing on themes including:

• The Birmingham ID City Manual

• Streets and Spaces City Manual

• Landscape and Green Infrastructure City Manual

• Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual

• Efficient and Future-ready City Manual

The full set of documents can be found at www.birmingham.gov.uk/design guide

The consultation exercise will help to shape the final document, which the City Council intends to adopt as a Supplementary Planning Document in 2021.

The City Council considers that the principles and guidance drafted within the suite of documents will play an important role in enhancing the quality of development across Birmingham to deliver high quality, people focused places that are resilient, innovative and healthy.

Once adopted, the Birmingham Design Guide will become the primary planning guidance used to assess and guide the design of all developments across the City from small extensions to tall buildings.