A new set of photos of the now covered Island House by Alex Dean.

There is to be another protest outside Island House on Tuesday 14 February at 1-2 pm with colourful Valentine Ray Egan/John Bull, who has made a banner saying ‘Hey Quintain Hands off our House.’ Julia Larden has said ‘This could be a good way of raising awareness that the building has now been COVERED and the interior is being STRIPPED OUT.’

I thought it was time for an update on the campaign to Save Island House (Facebook group link). As you know, there was a protest outside the building on Wednesday 1st February, which was featured in the Birmingham Mail. Photos taken at the protest by Alex Dean are above.

The group of local people working hard to Save Island House have since been busy emailing each other to organise further publicity and awareness raising activities and contacting owners Quintain Estates for updates.

Photo by Michael Westley

Then on Wednesday of this week the building was covered in ‘enviro wrap’, sparking fears that demolition may be imminent. After a great deal of activity from workmen on the building yesterday Julia Larden contacted Quintain to enquire about what was being done. This was their response:

‘…the team is proceeding with the element of the contract that would have to happen whether the building was eventually renovated or demolished. This involves the removal of the (dilapadated) interior. If renovation is the route that is chosen, then the interior will receive a new fit-out that is safe and up to the standard of whatever the purpose of the building is deemed to be.’

In the meantime we are awaiting the results of Quintain’s application for a Deed of Variation from the Section 106 legal agreement made by Quintain, in which they undertook to retain and refurbish Island House. This agreement is still in force. If you haven’t done so already, please register your objection to the Deed of Variation before 23rd February to help Save Island House!

This protest aims to bring this issue to the wider attention of the city’s residents. By working together we can stop the needless removal of our city’s heritage and save a wonderful building and local landmark.

On Thursday 26th January a planning application was passed to allow the demolition of the grade B locally listed Island House. It is a prominent local landmark, designed by a Birmingham architect, George Pepper, and one of only a handful of buildings more than ten years old in the Eastside development area of the city. Once Island House has been demolished the site will be restored to provide a temporary landscaped area. No one other than Quintain Estates wants this.

Quintain are claiming that the building will have to be demolished to make way for a new high-speed railway station, but this is factually inaccurate. No detailed plans have been created, and all indicative images thus far show that Island House is not in the way of the station, and could easily be incorporated into any future development.

This planned demolition is rushed and unwanted. Despite many and varied objections the Council had few options under planning law and had to approve the application. Scaffolding has already begun to appear on the building in preparation. However, an existing S106 planning agreement between the applicant, Quintain Estates, and Birmingham City Council enforces the developer to restore Island House to a good condition before demolition can go ahead. Quintain are currently trying to have this changed, and we need your support in opposing this. You can help by lodging an objection here.

For further information please see the associated facebook group.

Island House by Ell Brown

Island House is situated in a prominent position at the west end of Fazeley Street at its junction with Albert Street. It is a prominent landmark and a fine Classical style building, described by Andy Foster in the Pevsner Architectural Series volume ‘Birmingham’ (2005) on p190 as “of 1912-13 by G. E. Pepper. Mannerist, e.g. the reversed orders on the corner entrance: Ionic below, then Doric, then Tuscan.” Island House was built as offices and warehousing for Churchill & Co, and has parallels in other commercial and industrial buildings designed by Pepper, of which 75 Vyse Street in the Jewellery Quarter, constructed in 1909, is now listed by English Heritage at grade II.

Island House is locally listed. This means it is recognised by the City Council as having architectural or historic interest, but not enough to be statutorily listed at a national level. There is a convention that a Grade A locally listed building, if threatened with demolition, can often be added to the statutory list, but Island House is only Grade B. A locally listed building enjoys no special protection, but its listed status should be taken into consideration by the Planning Committee when considering planning applications.

After the Eastside designation by the Labour administration in around 1999, a lot of demolition took place around Island House in conjunction with the demolition of the elevated Inner Ring Road. Eastside was parcelled up into big redevelopment sites. Island House was part of a site labelled City Park Gate, along Moor Street from Masshouse to Moor Street Station, for whom the developers were originally, I think, Countryside Quintain. Richard Rogers made an earlier scheme, but in 2006 the architects Make made a very good masterplan, one of whose successes was the intelligent way in which it integrated Island House and the Fox and Grapes into the new development. This masterplan gained outline planning permission, and the Section 111 agreement to retain and refurbish Island House is part of this approval (2006/07395/PA). Quintain have now submitted a Deed of Variation by which they seek to relieve themselves of this obligation. This is currently out for public consultation until 6th February (2012/00182/PA).

The hotel which is currently under construction on Moor Street is the only part of the Make masterplan to be constructed. The announcement of the intended HS2 early in 2010 meant that the development could not be completed, as the new station cut across it. BCC commissioned a new masterplan from Glenn Howells Architects, to show how the new station could be related to other adjacent developments. This was published for public consultation in December 2011 (open until 23rd March; www.birmingham.gov.uk/eastsidemasterplan).

The masterplan does not show Island House, or refer to it. Plans in the document are small scale and diagrammatic (the station has not yet been fully designed, after all), but it appears that the site of Island House does not actually impinge on the footprint of the station. It comes close, but could be integrated into the development, just as it was in the 2006 masterplan.

Joe Holyoak

“Due to the proposal to introduce High Speed 2, we are unable to proceed with our plans for the City Park Gate scheme, which expressly provided for the retention and refurbishment of Island House. In the current circumstances, no tenant is interested in taking occupation of the building as they will have to vacate in a few years to make way for the new HS2 station, and we are left with a vacant building in an advanced state of disrepair, which attracts vandals and is sporadically used as a location for drug-related activities. Regrettably, the only sensible course of action is to demolish the building to prevent the anti-social behaviour continuing and then landscape the area.”

Scaffolding around Island House by Jonathan Clarke

I was very sad not to be in Birmingham today and support the campaign to Save Island House. Architect and Urban Designer Joe Holyoak went to the Birmingham City Council Planning Committee this morning and has written a good report of what went on:

Planning Committee this morning gave consent to the application (2011/08448/PA) by Armac Demolition for approval for the method of demolition of Island House. It was given reluctantly, in the knowledge that it had no alternative. Several councillors spoke strongly against the proposed demolition, and there were no voices in disagreement.

There is one remaining basis on which demolition might be stopped. When outline approval (C/07395/06/OUT) was given to the City Park Gate masterplan, of which Island House formed part, in 2006, the owner Quintain entered into a Section 111 legal agreement in which among other things Quintain undertook to retain and refurbish Island House. This agreement is still in force.

Quintain have now made a Deed of Variation, in which they are asking BCC to delete this part of the agreement. It is open for consultation until 6th February, and then has to come to Planning Committee for determination. It appears that if Planning Committee are minded not to change the agreement, then demolition cannot legally take place. So it is vital that as many people as possible write to the planning officer Joanne McCallion, objecting to the Deed of Variation. [You can register your objection online.]

Quintain’s actions were described by Councillor John Clancy in Planning Committee as “reprehensible”. If Quintain are as insensitive and ruthless as they appear to be, the worst possible outcome is that they demolish the building anyway, and have their lawyers argue after the event about the costs and penalties for breaking the agreement. Even before Planning Committee, scaffolding was being erected around Island House. [See above photo]

Joe Holyoak

It’s pretty clear what we all need to do to try and save this historic gem – register your objection to Quintain’s Deed of Variation before 6th February!

Here are some links to posts elsewhere concerning today’s proceedings (I’ll add more as they crop up):

• Confusion reigns in the planning committee  – ‘Accountability around planning in this country seems rather muddled and it seems agreements are struck behind closed doors that even democratically elected members are unable to do anything about’ says Joe Peacock of Birmingham Friends of the Earth.
• Eastside planning row could provide big pay day for lawyers – ‘This one could run and run, at least until they start laying the high speed rail tracks’ says Paul M Dale.
• Legal contract could save Birmingham’s 100-year-old Island House from demolition – Birmingham Post report.
• The strange tale of Island House – by Neil Elkes on Jan 27. ‘The tale of Island House has exposed the limitations, the complexities and the legal difficulties of the planning process.’

Following a great deal of twitter discussion calling to #saveislandhouse yesterday, things are getting organised! Nicola Toms has created a Save Island House Facebook page, please ‘like’ to show your support!

Emails have been flying around between those planning to attend the Birmingham City Council Planning Committee tomorrow (Thursday 26th January), which will ‘decide the fate of this distinctive and iconic Birmingham landmark’.

The building is in its centenary year and was designed by Brummie architect George A. Pepper who also designed factories in the Jewellery Quarter which are listed.

This planned demolition is rushed and unwanted. The public consultation only just ended on 22/01/2012. Despite many and varied objections The Council ignored public opinion and demolition is still planned. If the Planning Committee approve on Thursday there is no turning back.

Last but by no means least, Occupy Birmingham are organising a demonstration (Facebook event page here) outside Birmingham City Council offices in Victoria Square whilst the Planning Committee takes place tomorrow (Thursday 26th January) at 11.00am-2.00pm. Go along if you can and make your voice heard!

Quite a lot actually.

Digbeth Resident’s Association Chairperson Val recently sent me a link to this article on the Guardian. Although I don’t fully agree with the author, I do agree on the main point of his article: HS2 is a HUGE cost to the tax payer. And call me stupid, but I was pretty sure we were/are in the midst of an economic crisis?

Birmingham architect Joe Holyoak, who has offices in the Custard Factory put it like this:

“I am very concerned about the impact of the HS2 station upon the relationship between Digbeth and the city centre. The station threatens to reproduce the barrier between the two which the previous elevated ring road represented. The removal of the ring road, and the establishment of better ground level connections, was the first act of the Eastside team following the Eastside designation. HS2 would reverse this accessibility, with Bordesley Street and Fazeley Street being blocked. Between Selfridges and the old Curzon Street Station building, there will be no way of walking between Digbeth and the city centre.”

The proposed HS2 station is discussed in the Eastside Masterplan (file download), which is available from the Birmingham City Council website. If you don’t agree with anything in the document, make sure your voice is heard!

Consultation for the Eastside Masterplan is open until 23rd March 2012; make your comments by emailing bigcityplan@birmingham.gov.uk.

Remember that HS2 and its affect on Digbeth will be discussed at the Digbeth Summit on 16th February. If you’d like to attend, make sure to RSVP!

This meeting between Warwick Bar and British Waterways will focus on issues developed in the recent workshops, led on permaculture principles, in relation to the Warwick Bar site and its Digbeth hinterland.

For more information about the event, released in the coming weeks, please visit the Warwick Bar website.