Birmingham Jewellery Quarter

Description: The Jewellery Quarter is a unique area of workshops and retail outlets engaged in the jewellery trade. Many workshops use equipment, machinery and techniques that have changed little in the last hundred years. The quarter is situated immediately north of Birmingham city centre.

Issue: Birmingham city centre’s successful regeneration and renewal in the 1990s put adjacent neighbourhoods, such as the Jewellery Quarter, in a vulnerable position as the demand for residential and commercial space intensified. The threat to the Jewellery Quarter was the dilution of its thriving jewellery trade and the erosion of its unique light industrial heritage.

Strategy: In partnership with Birmingham City Council, English Heritage embarked on a programme of research and analysis of the quarter. This enabled a comprehensive understanding of the area and highlighted its rarity and importance in a national, and arguably an international context. With a proper understanding of the area the city council was able to devise a sensible management strategy for the quarter which included Conservation Area designation and new listings. Whilst not seeking to prohibit the growth and prosperity of the city, the strategy set an even handed framework for controlling new development in a way that respected the historic integrity of the quarter and promoted its potential as a visitor destination.

Outcome: The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter demonstrates the importance of obtaining a thorough understanding of a historic area or site and of using that to inform policy and future planning. This enables the management of change in an enlightened and informed way.