City Architect of Birmingham

The City Architect of Birmingham was a high-ranking position within the Public Works department of Birmingham City Council and provided the holder with a lot of power in the planning decisions of Birmingham, especially in the post-war period in which Birmingham underwent enormous regeneration. Combined with the City Engineer position, which was held by Sir Herbert Manzoni, the City Architect designed or had an important say in all city council building projects.

The position was created in the 1950s by the Public Works department to assist the design and construction of large building projects that were prompted by the demands of the growing population and by the vast amounts of money being invested into regenerating areas that had been devastated by the Luftwaffe in the Birmingham Blitz. In the 1950s, Birmingham was suffering from a housing shortage for approximately 65,000 families and the council's initial attitude was to construct temporary prefabricated homes. However, as demand for longer-lasting flats grew, the council decided that it these were necessary and that the five redevelopment areas, designated by Manzoni, were to be the key foci for modern housing provision.

The first architect to be given the position of City Architect of Birmingham was Alwyn Sheppard Fidler, who moved from the chief architect for the new town of Crawley in 1952. In 1954, Fidler established his own Architect's Department as the work load increased. His initial commissions were small-scale projects such as the former Register Office on Broad Street, although he was given the opportunity to exhibit his preference towards mixed-use provision – usually a combination of residential properties and retail units. He also advocated the approach by the council towards high-density housing. In his first few years of being City Architect, Fidler witnessed the construction of many five and six story residential schemes designed by Manzoni such as the Marston Green estate. Fidler expressed his distate towards the designs of these estates, calling Manzoni's designs 'mud pies'. When Fidler created the Architect's Department, he was able to enforce three policies that would change the quality of housing design. Firstly, he ensured that he was responsible for all the housing projects that were being built by national contractors such as Wimpey that the city council was working with. Secondly, he ended the construction of Manzoni's six storey blocks and replaced them with schemes that were more specific towards the individual site and reflected for the need for the type of housing in the area. Finally, he called for the appointment of a landscape architect to improve the layout of large housing estate, a policy that surprised many Birmingham councillors. These policies did take time to come into effect as many of his designs were still affected by external forces and practices. Under Manzoni, the designs for housing blocks had been negotiated with the contractors to bring down construction costs and times. But the formation of his own department that gave him independence from Manzoni made it easier for Fidler to have a free hand in design.

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