Places · West Midlands · Birmingham
Façade & building consultants in Birmingham.
From a marble-faced Town Hall and red terracotta law courts to post-war concrete and new 155m towers, Birmingham's buildings reflect a city that keeps rebuilding itself. McKay Turner Consulting provides façade condition surveys, defect investigations, FRAEW (PAS 9980) and EWS1 assessments across the city.
BIRMINGHAM 52.4790° N, 1.9028° W
A short history
An inland city, built by industry
Birmingham grew from a medieval market town into a great centre of industry, linked to the rest of England by canals and railways. Each wave of growth, and the bombing and rebuilding of the 20th century, left its mark on the streets.
- 1166
A market town
A royal charter allows a weekly market, on the site still known as the Bull Ring.
- 1772
The first canal
The Birmingham Canal opens, built under James Brindley. It grows into the Birmingham Canal Navigations.
- 1834
The Town Hall
A Roman temple design faced in Anglesey marble, the first major work of the 19th-century Roman revival.
- 1889
City status
Queen Victoria makes Birmingham a city. The red terracotta Victoria Law Courts follow in 1891.
- 1940
The Birmingham Blitz
Raids from 1940 to 1943 destroy more than 12,000 houses and 300 factories. Only London and Liverpool were bombed more heavily.
- 1964
The concrete city
Post-war planners clear large areas for the Inner Ring Road, and the Rotunda tower completes.
- 2003
A new Bullring
Selfridges, clad in 15,000 aluminium discs, opens at the redeveloped Bullring.
- 2025
A new skyline
The 155m Octagon completes, followed in 2026 by One Eastside, while HS2's Curzon Street station takes shape.
Architecture
What makes Birmingham's buildings distinctive
Birmingham had little good building stone, so brick and terracotta shaped much of the Victorian city. Post-war planners rebuilt large parts of the centre in concrete, and the city has been rebuilding again since the 1990s.
Key styles
Baroque & Georgian
St Philip's Cathedral (1715) by Thomas Archer, and St Paul's Square, the last remaining Georgian square in the city.
Neoclassical
The Town Hall (1834) is modelled on a Roman temple and faced in Anglesey marble. The Council House (1879) stands nearby.
Victorian & Arts and Crafts
Red brick and terracotta, as at the Victoria Law Courts (1891), and Arts and Crafts offices such as 122–124 Colmore Row (1900).
Interwar Classical & Art Deco
Classical civic buildings such as the Hall of Memory (1922–25) and Baskerville House (1938), and Art Deco cinemas like the Odeon Kingstanding (1935).
Modernism & Brutalism
The Inner Ring Road, the Rotunda (1964) and the 100m Alpha Tower (1973) reshaped the centre in concrete.
Contemporary
Brindleyplace, the Selfridges store (2003), the Library of Birmingham (2013) and new residential towers up to 155m.
The city's material palette
Did you know?
Birmingham has 35 miles of canals, said to be more than Venice. The wider Birmingham Canal Navigations once ran to more than 170 miles.
With no good local stone, Victorian architects used terracotta, which also stood up to the city's soot and smoke.
The Selfridges store is clad in 15,000 anodised aluminium discs over a sprayed concrete façade on a steel frame.
Typical building types
What Birmingham is built of today
As England's largest council area and home to five universities, Birmingham has a varied mix of offices, homes, student blocks and listed buildings, with tall new rental towers in the centre.
Commercial offices
Victorian chambers alongside newer towers such as 103 Colmore Row (2022).
Where: Colmore Business District, Snow Hill, Paradise
City-centre apartments
Converted workshops and 2000s–2010s blocks, many with rainscreen cladding.
Where: Jewellery Quarter, Digbeth, Southside
Purpose-built student
Large blocks serving the biggest centre of higher education outside London.
Where: Selly Oak, Eastside, Digbeth
Build to rent
Rental towers such as the Octagon and One Eastside, now the city's tallest buildings.
Where: Paradise, Eastside, Broad Street
Post-war high-rise housing
Council tower blocks from the 1950s–70s, some now being regenerated.
Where: Ladywood, Druids Heath, Castle Vale
Retail & mixed use
Shopping centres and high streets with offices or homes above.
Where: Bullring, New Street, Corporation Street
Heritage & civic
Listed civic, religious and industrial buildings that need specialist care.
Where: Victoria Square, Colmore Row, Jewellery Quarter
Hotels & leisure
Hotels, venues and stadia, often with large roofs and complex façades.
Where: Broad Street, Brindleyplace, Aston
Current construction trends
Where Birmingham is building now
New towers, HS2 and large regeneration sites are changing the city centre, while older apartment blocks are being made safe.
HS2 Curzon Street station
Piling for the seven-platform station finished in March 2026, with 2,011 piles. The station will stretch over 400m between Moor Street and Millennium Point.
One Eastside and the Octagon
Birmingham's two tallest towers are both build to rent. One Eastside reached completion in 2026 with 667 homes, a year after the 370-home Octagon.
Smithfield
Outline plans for more than 3,000 homes on the 17-hectare site were approved in 2024. The first phase, with over 400 rental homes overlooking Manor Square, was approved in 2025.
Birmingham Local Plan
The draft plan, out for final consultation in 2026, sets a need for at least 87,700 new homes by 2044, focused on brownfield land and 16 growth zones.
Sports Quarter, Bordesley Green
Birmingham City FC plans a 62,000-seat stadium with homes, shops and training facilities. Designs were unveiled in late 2025 and construction is planned from 2028.
Building safety remediation
Many apartment and student blocks from the 2000s and 2010s are being assessed under PAS 9980 and remediated under the Building Safety Act.
How we help in Birmingham
Every era of building has its own risks
We match our inspections and advice to the age and construction of your building.
Georgian, Victorian & Edwardian stone, brick and terracottac.1750–1930
Weathered stone, failed pointing and mortar, corroding iron fixings and water ingress through older details.
Post-war concrete and system buildsc.1950–1990
Spalling concrete, corroded reinforcement, ageing windows and poor thermal performance.
Curtain walls, rainscreen and high-rise residentialc.1990–2018
Leaking seals and gaskets, combustible cladding and insulation, and missing cavity barriers.
New build and conversionstoday
Design and specification gaps, workmanship defects and Building Safety Act requirements.
West Plaza, West Bromwich: a PAS 9980 FRAEW of a 45m 1960s tower using drone and intrusive survey. Result: Low risk, no remediation and EWS1 Option A1.
Read the case study →FAQs
Façade services in Birmingham
Do you carry out FRAEWs and EWS1 forms in Birmingham?
Yes. We carry out Fire Risk Appraisals of External Walls to PAS 9980 and EWS1 assessments on apartment, student and build to rent buildings across Birmingham and the West Midlands. We are Homes England approved Cladding Safety Scheme assessors.
How quickly can you respond to an enquiry in Birmingham?
We work across Birmingham and the West Midlands. We aim to respond to new enquiries within one working day, and we arrange site visits and access to suit your programme.
Can you survey Victorian terracotta and brick façades?
Yes. We inspect terracotta, faience, brick and stone façades, looking for cracking, loose units and water ingress, and recommend repairs that suit the building's age and listing.
Which other services do you offer in Birmingham?
Technical due diligence, defect and water ingress investigations, thermographic surveys, fire door and compartmentation surveys, specification and tender, development monitoring, remediation project management and expert witness services.
Work with us
Own or manage a building in Birmingham?
We provide façade condition surveys, defect investigations, PAS 9980 appraisals and EWS1 assessments, and manage remediation across Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Photographs: Ethan Thompson and Sarah Doffman on Unsplash.