Birmingham’s Botanical Gardens is one of the city’s great unsung attractions. The Edgbaston green space dates back to the 1820s and is Grade II* listed, featuring Victorian glasshouses, exceptionally pretty landscaping and more than 10,000 species of plants from all over the world. Better yet, it’s free to enter every single day of the year.
The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a delightful place to spend a few hours – and soon it could be getting even more delightful. Plans have been submitted to give the place a sizeable makeover.
The plans come from architecture firm Howells. They’ll apparently ‘provide a low-carbon, sympathetic reinterpretation of the existing gardens and structure’ and ‘deliver a long-term sustainable future for the gardens’.
What does that actually mean? Well, Howells wants to carefully restore the gardens’ four Victorian glasshouses and refurbish the gardens themselves. They’ll be working with conservation specialists and historic buildings consultants Donald Insall Associates.
About the plans, Birmingham Botanical Gardens CEO Sara Blair-Manning said: ‘This is the last chance to save Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The Gardens offer a rich, uniquely biodiverse natural environment, one mile from Birmingham City Centre and we know, through consultation, that they are hugely treasured by the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands.
‘The Gardens need urgent and extensive restoration and repairs and are considered at risk by Historic England. A successful project will mean that The Gardens can continue to connect people with culture, heritage and nature in a large urban metropolis.’
The project has been supported by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant and it’s part of Birmingham’s wider ‘Our Future City 2040’ plan, which will see Brum get greener, more walkable and more sustainable.
Subject to planning permission, work on the refurb is set to get underway next year and be complete by 2028.
Time Out Birmingham
Out and about in Brum? The City of a Thousand Trades is one of Time Out’s favourite places in the UK, and we’ve got comprehensive guides to the best things to do there. For starters, here are our lists of Birmingham’s essential restaurants, pubs and art galleries.
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