The Swan Shopping Centre is an under-construction 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²) shopping centre in Yardley

Yardley, Birmingham

Yardley is an area in east Birmingham, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee.Birmingham Yardley is a constituency and its Member of Parliament is John Hemming.-Features:...

, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, scheduled to open in Spring 2012.

With its landmark high rise building, it stands on the A45 Coventry Road

A45 road

The A45 is a major road in England. It runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42, then bypasses Coventry and Rugby, where it briefly merges with the M45 until it continues to Daventry...

 at its intersection with the A4040 Outer Ring Road

A4040 road

The A4040 is the Outer Ring Road in Birmingham, England. It is the route followed by the Birmingham Outer Circle bus route. It was formed mainly of redesignated old roads, unlike Birmingham's inner and middle ring road , which were mostly purpose built.Places along the route include:* Perry Barr*...

 (also the Birmingham Outer Circle Number 11 bus route

Birmingham Outer Circle

The Birmingham Outer Circle is a roughly circular, 27 mile bus route in Birmingham, England . It mainly follows the city's outer ring road, the A4040 with some small deviations to serve some rail stations and shopping areas. Buses on the Outer Circle are numbered 11C on the clockwise journey and...

), known as Swan Island.

History

It consists of a predominantly 1960s structure after the previous shopping centre was burned down. The previous shopping centre stood on the site of the Tivoli Cinema and Hardings Bakery. The Swan pub was on the opposite side of the Swan Island where the Swan office block is now. The Swan Inn was situated in a location in which it received a successful trade as many coaches and trade wagons passed it as they travelled from the southeast of the country into Birmingham. In 1731, Nicholas Rothwell of Warwick established a coach business which transported people from the inn to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 via Warwick

Warwick

Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...

, Aylesbury

Aylesbury

Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...

 and Banbury

Banbury

Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...

. At present, numerous coach companies use the shopping centre as a stop.

The Swan Inn also became a popular venue for public displays including James Brindley

James Brindley

James Brindley was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century.-Early life:...

, who outlined the results of a survey he had undertaken for the cutting of a navigable canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

 between Birmingham and the Black Country

Black Country

The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...

 coalfields. The Swan was the terminus for trams serving Birmingham and new shops were built about 1938. One of the landmarks at this time was the local bakery (Hardings) which was situated at he corner junction of Coventry Road and Church Road. The present centre was also the location of a local cinema, The Tivoli.

The current shopping centre was constructed with Bakeman House, a block of flats, which currently houses mainly elderly tenants. The tower block has been refurbished by Birmingham City Council at a cost of £3 million. Works included repainting the exterior, installing double glazed windows and the addition of a new lighting feature around the parapet. The works took up to nine months were completed in December 2008 by Wates. The majority of the building is of a concrete exterior, however, the entrance block at the multi-storey car park is clad in corrugated steel painted a dark orange. The shopping centre itself was located underneath the tower block. When opened, it was a Gateway Supermarket and became an In Shop market up until August 2007. The shopping centre formerly had over 80 shops and businesses, however all had gone by February 2009.

Redevelopment

Tesco have had plans to redevelop the centre into a modern shopping complex whilst retaining the flats above for six years. The final plans were approved in 2007 but the poor condition of Bakeman House and other problems, including land ownership, have delayed the work. As well as redeveloping the centre, Tesco will construct a new supermarket on the site with a new petrol station, not as yet confirmed by Tesco (last Yardley Forum Dec 2010), located on the adjacent car park. Church Road will be widened to a dual carriageway from the Coventry Road to Harvey Road with a new traffic island at Harvey Road. Church Road will also be reconfigured around the site, cutting into a local recreation ground. A delay due to a challenge to a compulsory purchase order for the road arose, for which a hearing in July 2009, taking three weeks, was set. The Secretary of State approved the CPO in favour of Tesco in February 2010.

Preparations for the construction of the road have commenced, with the route being marked out and the land cleared. Trees were also been removed by the developers. These are to be replaced around the edge of the site and Tesco have given the Friends of the Oaklands £4 million to reforest the area and perform any further works. Arup

Arup

Arup is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the...

commenced work in Summer 2009 but stopped soon after due to the delay. The main Contractor is now Bowland and Kirkham and DSM with Fitzgerald have specialist contracts. Earth stores under Bakeman House has been transported as fill for the Car park/Road with part left on the Bakeman House site for foundations of the new Store.
The projected completion date is early 2012 for the shop and Mid late 2011 for the road.

External links

• Swan Shopping Centre website
• Planning application for redevelopment (pdf)
• 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the Swan area - Swan Inn can clearly be seen on the map.