Council criticised over Birmingham Jewelry Quarter workshops sale
Birmingham Metropolis Council is going through criticism after inserting a row of historic workshops on Vyse Road within the Jewelry Quarter up on the market with out prior session with tenants, native companies, or commerce teams.
The transfer comes lower than two weeks after the Quarter was awarded World Craft Metropolis standing, the primary within the UK, recognising its world significance as a centre of jewelry making and allied trades.
The Victorian two-storey workshops on Vyse Road home dozens of small companies that collectively produce a lot of the jewelry offered throughout Britain.
The Nationwide Affiliation of Jewellers (NAJ) mentioned the sale threatens an “ecosystem of interconnected expertise” that has sustained Birmingham’s jewelry business for hundreds of years.
Native jewellers mentioned they weren’t notified of the sale and solely realized of it when “For Sale” boards appeared.
Trade our bodies together with the NAJ, the Birmingham Assay Workplace, the College of Jewelry, and the Jewelry Quarter Enterprise Enchancment District (JQBID) have since joined forces to oppose the choice.
Jewelry Quarter BID chief govt Luke Crane known as the choice “deeply troubling”,saying: “These areas are usually not simply bricks and mortar – they’re the dwelling infrastructure of our metropolis’s world-renowned jewelry commerce.”
Campaigners say the sell-off displays a wider sample of gentrification that has seen conventional workshops changed by residential developments.
Conservative councillor Ken Wooden, deputy lord mayor and consultant for Sutton Walmley and Minworth, mentioned the sale “places the World Craft Metropolis ‘in danger’” and warned it might “destroy the Quarter’s distinctive ecosystem of companies endlessly”.
“The influence the unmaking of the Jewelry Quarter would have on the native economic system and jobs can’t be understated. Generations of enterprise, relationships, coaching and information shall be misplaced if the council doesn’t reverse its resolution.”
Ben Massey, chief govt of the NAJ, added: “The Jewelry Quarter is greater than a administrative center – it’s a dwelling legacy of workmanship, group, and tradition. Sustainable planning and significant session are important to make sure this historic and world-recognised district thrives, not simply survives.”
Representatives from the College of Jewelry additionally urged the council to rethink. Affiliate professor Miranda Wells mentioned it was “unhappy to listen to of but extra conventional workshops being offered off for different makes use of”, whereas senior lecturer Katy Tromans mentioned the transfer “undermines a group that’s simply been publicly celebrated for its contribution to town’s id and economic system”.
Jewelry Focus has contacted Birmingham Metropolis Council for remark.
