Birmingham Coach Station
Coach interchange
The station at night
General information
Other namesDigbeth Coach Station
LocationDigbeth, Birmingham, England
Coordinates52°28′31″N 1°53′19″W / 52.47524°N 1.8886°W / 52.47524; -1.8886
Bus stands16
Bus operators
History
Opened1929 (1929)

Birmingham Coach Station (formerly Digbeth Coach Station) is a major coach interchange in Digbeth, Birmingham, England offering services to destinations throughout the island of Great Britain and also to Belfast and Dublin. National Express, the largest scheduled coach service provider in Europe, has its national headquarters on the site.[1]

History

The vehicle entrance of the original Digbeth Coach Station, built in 1929 as a bus depot

The original interchange was built in 1929 as a bus depot by Midland Red, which was later converted into Digbeth Coach Station. Successor company Midland Red West used the coach station as a base for its Birmingham and Black Country operations. The original building was dark and dingy as it was not originally intended to serve passengers as a coach interchange.[2]

Plans were initially developed for a new coach station on Great Charles Street, as Digbeth was considered by National Express to be an "undesirable" location.[3] However, after the completion of the new Bullring and the planned Eastside redevelopment, it was decided to demolish the old structure and build a new coach station on the same site.[2] Outline planning application for a design by Make Architects was submitted on behalf of National Express to Birmingham City Council in March 2006.[4] However this option was abandoned in favour of a competing design by SBS Architects.[5] The final planning application for the design by SBS Architects was submitted on 29 October 2007.[6]

The old coach station closed in November 2007 for redevelopment and during reconstruction National Express used a temporary site in Oxford Street on the opposite side of Digbeth High Street, called Birmingham Central Coach Station. The refurbishment was estimated to have cost £15 million.[6] It was officially reopened on 18 December 2009 by the then England national football team manager Fabio Capello.[7] The new station has been awarded a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating.

References

  1. ↑ "LSH plays integral role in £15m redevelopment of Birmingham Coach Station". Lambert Smith Hampton. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011.
  2. 1 2 "First bus leaves revamped station". BBC News. 14 December 2009.
  3. ↑ Birmingham Coach Station Application Withdrawn Archived 4 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine Birmingham City Council
  4. ↑ "Outline Planning Application Press Release".
  5. ↑ "SBS Replaces Make".
  6. 1 2 NatEx press release 29 October 2007
  7. ↑ Portlock, Sarah (18 December 2009). "England boss Capello opens Birmingham coach station". BBC News. Retrieved 20 December 2009.

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