![Birmingham skyline from Snowhill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Birmingham_skyline_from_Snowhill.jpg)
This list of the tallest buildings and structures in the
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
Metropolitan Area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
, West Midlands ranks buildings and free-standing structures by height, based on standard height measurements that include spires and architectural details but exclude extraneous elements added after completion of the building.
The tallest building in the metropolitan area is
The Mercian
The Mercian (also known as 212 Broad Street by its address and formerly known as 2one2 Broad Street and Broad Street Tower) is a 132-metre-tall (433 ft) residential skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having m ...
, a residential tower located in Birmingham's
Westside district. The tallest structure, also in Birmingham, is the 140-metre (458 ft)
BT Tower
The BT Communication Tower is a grade II listed communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. Originally named the Museum Radio Tower (after the adjacent Museum telephone exchange), it became better known by its unoff ...
. Both are set to be surpassed by
Octagon
In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...
, a skyscraper currently under construction in
Birmingham City Centre
Birmingham City Centre, also known as Central Birmingham and often known locally as town, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. Following the removal of the Inner Ring Road, the city centre is now defined as being the area wi ...
.
Birmingham Metropolitan Area
![Birmingham Metropolitan Area](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Birmingham_Metropolitan_Area.jpg)
The
Birmingham metropolitan area
The Birmingham Metropolitan Area is an urban agglomeration located in the West Midlands region of England with a population of around 4.3 million people, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom. It comprises the thre ...
is an urban agglomeration located in the
West Midlands region
The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. The region consists ...
of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
with a population of around 4.3 million people, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
It comprises the three cities (
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
,
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
) and four metropolitan boroughs (
Dudley
Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...
,
Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...
,
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...
,
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...
) which make up the
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...
of the
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, along with its
commuter zones, which extend into the neighbouring
district authorities of
Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...
and
Redditch
Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...
in
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
;
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase (), often referred to locally as The Chase, is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is managed by Forestry En ...
,
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
,
South Staffordshire
South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of the West Midlands county, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south. It contains notable settlements ...
and
Tamworth in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
; and all five district authorities of
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
, including the towns of
Bedworth
Bedworth ( or locally ) is a market town and unparished area in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth, Warwickshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : It is situated between Coventry, 6 miles (9.5 km) to the south, a ...
,
Coleshill,
Nuneaton
Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...
,
Royal Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...
, and
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
itself. Each of these authorities has at least one high-rise, or tall building or structure ≥35 metres in height.
A number of sizeable settlements fall outside the morphological boundaries of the Birmingham Metropolitan Area but still form part of its
economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
and
infrastructural
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
hinterland
Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...
. Amongst these, the cathedral city of
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
, the towns of
Cannock
Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...
,
Hednesford
Hednesford (pronounced ) is a historic market town in the Cannock Chase (district), Cannock Chase district of Staffordshire, England. Cannock Chase is to the north, the town of Cannock to the south and Rugeley to the southwest.The population ...
and
Rugeley
Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...
in Staffordshire,
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
and
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
in Warwickshire, and
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it had ...
in the
Wyre Forest District
Wyre Forest is a local government district in Worcestershire, England, covering the towns of Kidderminster, Stourport-on-Severn and Bewdley, and several civil parishes and their villages. Its council was previously based in Stourport-on-Severn, ...
of Worcestershire. For completeness, the tall buildings and structures in these places are included in the listings below but, for accuracy, are not designated a metropolitan area ranking.
Like other regional conurbations in the United Kingdom, the Birmingham Metropolitan Area is polycentric, with several
primary urban area A primary urban area (PUA) is an area defined by the Department for Communities and Local Government in the United Kingdom as a statistical tool for analysing the major cities of England, originating as part of their '' State of the English Cities'' ...
s and
satellite towns overlaying traditional
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
s and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
es, separated by areas of
protected green space. This is reflected in a diverse urban landscape characterised by examples of
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
,
Tudor,
Jacobean,
English Baroque
English Baroque is a term used to refer to modes of English architecture that paralleled Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and roughly 1720, when the flamboyant and dramatic qualities of Baroque ...
,
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
,
Victorian,
Edwardian
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
,
Modern
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Phil ...
,
Postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
and
Contemporary
Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...
architecture. Each of these architectural periods is represented by at least one tall building or structure.
''All of the listings on this page are colour coded according to the authority in which they are located, based on the map of the Birmingham Metropolitan Area. The map can be used to find the authority for each entry and, where the building or structure is not located in a city centre, its district, town or parish.''
City of Birmingham
Birmingham has more than 375 tall buildings within its city boundaries, making it the most built-up city in the United Kingdom outside of London.
It is home to the majority of the tallest buildings and structures in the West Midlands region.
The city currently has seven structures completed at a height of 100 metres or more and a further three under construction, with eight of these being habitable. This is the third highest number of completed or under construction tall buildings or structures (≥100m) of any city in the United Kingdom.
History
The first structure to reach a height of 100 metres was the
Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower
The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, or colloquially Old Joe, is a clock tower and campanile located in Chancellor's court at the University of Birmingham, in the suburb of Edgbaston. It is the tallest free-standing clock tower in the ...
, constructed in 1908 and located in the
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...
area of the city. It remains the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world.
High-rise construction in Birmingham did not begin until the post war redevelopment of the 1960s and 1970s, when more than 25 commercial buildings taller than 50 metres were erected within the city centre and westwards along
Broad Street to
Five Ways and Hagley Road. Two further structures over 100 metres were built during this period – the 152-metre
BT Tower
The BT Communication Tower is a grade II listed communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. Originally named the Museum Radio Tower (after the adjacent Museum telephone exchange), it became better known by its unoff ...
, which remains the tallest structure in Birmingham, albeit at a reduced height, and the 100-metre, Grade II listed
Alpha Tower
Alpha Tower is a Grade II listed office skyscraper in Birmingham, England. It was designed by the Birmingham-born architect George Marsh of Richard Seifert & Partners as the headquarters of the commercial television company ATV (Associated T ...
. Other notable high-rise office buildings included
Quayside Tower and
Metropolitan House
Metropolitan House, also known as 1 Hagley Road, is a commercial building that has been developed into apartments in Birmingham, England. It is situated on the A456 Hagley Road at Five Ways. It was designed by John Madin.
Radio transmitters
T ...
, both designed by
John Madin
John Hardcastle Dalton Madin (23 March 1924 – 8 January 2012) was an English architect. His company, known as John H D Madin & Partners from 1962 and the John Madin Design Group from 1968, was active in Birmingham for over 30 years.
Bio ...
and since refurbished. This era also saw more than 150
residential tower blocks of between 12 and 32 storeys built in clusters around the periphery of the city centre and throughout its suburbs. The majority of these
Brutalist
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
buildings were of limited architectural merit and have since been demolished, although some examples remain.
High-rise development slowed during the 1980s and 1990s, with few significant proposals emerging, but the turn of the 21st century saw a renewed interest in constructing tall buildings in central Birmingham. Completed in 2006, the 122-metre
10 Holloway Circus
10 Holloway Circus (also referred to as the Holloway Circus Tower or Beetham Tower) is a tall mixed-use skyscraper in Birmingham city centre, England. It was originally named after the developers, Beetham Organisation, and was designed by ...
became the tallest habitable building in the city, while the
Brindleyplace
Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th century canal engineer James Brindley) around whi ...
canalside development yielded a cluster of high-rise office buildings adjacent to the
International Convention Centre and
Birmingham Indoor Arena.
However, in the wake of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, regulations imposed by the
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and
Birmingham City Council’s own ‘High Places’ planning policy framework restricted new buildings to a maximum height of around 120 metres, stymieing a number of appreciably taller proposals. These included the 245-metre
Arena Central Tower, which at the time was set to become the tallest skyscraper in the United Kingdom. A number of subsequent proposals, including revised plans for a 152-metre
V-shaped building at Arena Central, the 201-metre
Regal Tower, and the 130-metre twin towers proposed for the New Street Station
Gateway Plus
The Gateway Plus (previously known as Birmingham Gatewayand now known as Grand Central) project was a redevelopment scheme that regenerated Birmingham New Street railway station and the Pallasades Shopping Centre above it in Birmingham, Englan ...
project, succumbed to the
global financial crisis
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
and were either scaled back or scrapped.
Consequently, Birmingham’s most iconic 21st century buildings, including the
Selfridges Building,
Grand Central Station
Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
and the
Library of Birmingham
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
, are under 100 metres tall.
Present and future developments
In recent years the City Council has sought to encourage large-scale development, and a raft of tall buildings have been approved for construction across the
City Core and all six of Birmingham’s
City Centre Quarters –
Eastside,
Digbeth
Digbeth is an area of Central Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment ...
,
Westside and Ladywood,
Southside and Highgate, the
Jewellery Quarter
The Jewellery Quarter is an area of central Birmingham, UK, in the north-western area of Birmingham City Centre, with a population of around 19,000 people in a area.
The Jewellery Quarter is Europe's largest concentration of businesses invol ...
and
St George and St Chad. These developments include the first three skyscrapers in Birmingham and will form a number of tall clusters across the city centre.
Already home to some of Birmingham's tallest buildings, the City Core will see several tall developments in the coming years, including the 155-metre
Octagon
In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...
tower at the
Paradise
In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...
redevelopment site in the city's Civic Heart, which is currently under construction. When completed, Octagon will become the world's tallest octagonally-shaped residential building. Octagon will be near neighbour to the newly completed
103 Colmore Row (108 metres), which is the tallest dedicated office building to be constructed outside of London since Alpha Tower was completed in 1973. To the east of the
Historic Colmore Business District, Birmingham's Retail Core is set to be reshaped by
Hammerson’s mixed-use
Martineau Galleries
Martineau Galleries is a proposed mixed-use development for Birmingham, England which was shelved in 2009 but re-approved in 2020. It was to connect the Eastside to the city centre core, a major retail area.
History
Pre-1960s development
...
scheme, incorporating a third building in excess of 100 metres in height.
In Westside and Ladywood,
Moda Living’s 132-metre
Mercian residential tower was completed in 2022 and became the tallest habitable building in Birmingham. It could be surpassed by the 193-metre 100 Broad Street residential skyscraper which, if built, would become the second tallest regional building in the United Kingdom. However, the viability of this project is currently unclear. Other significant residential schemes around
Broad Street and
Brindleyplace
Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th century canal engineer James Brindley) around whi ...
include 102-metre Bank Tower II and under construction Cortland Broad Street (111 metres), while Axis (100 metres) will extend the densification of commercial buildings around
Centenary Square
Centenary Square is a public square on the north side of Broad Street in Birmingham, England, named in 1989 to commemorate the centenary of Birmingham achieving city status. The area was an industrial area of small workshops and canal wharves ...
.
The Eastside district will become home to One Eastside, a 155-metre residential skyscraper which is due for completion in 2024 and will form part of the gateway to
Birmingham’s new HS2 railway station at Curzon Street. This tower will be joined by two more approved residential towers – the 123-metre tower at Glasswater Locks and 111-metre Exchange Square tower, which is currently under construction. Extending outwards from Birmingham's Knowledge Quarter, the £360m Curzon Wharf masterplan, intended to be the world's first net zero carbon mixed-use development, includes proposals for two more tall buildings, one being a skyscraper rising to 172 metres.
To the South East of the City Core, swathes of Digbeth are scheduled to be redeveloped, with residential towers including the 146-metre Tower Leaf and 102-metre Upper Trinity Street Tower already approved. A 32-storey mixed-use tower is planned to anchor the vast Smithfield site, which will link Digbeth to the Southside and Highgate district, and another cluster of approved high-rises in and around the city's
Gay Village
A gay village is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBT) people. Gay villages often contain a number of gay-oriented establish ...
and
Chinese Quarter
The Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England is located in the city centre's Southside. It is an area with a predominantly Chinese influence as a result of a concentration of Chinese owned businesses, organisations and social clubs. The area now c ...
. For nearby Holloway Circus, plans have been submitted for a 52-storey, 170-metre skyscraper dubbed 'Act One. Chung Ying Plaza', the first of up to ten tall buildings expected to transform
Smallbrook Queensway in the forthcoming years.
Meanwhile, to the north west of the City Core, Moda Living’s approved 126-metre residential tower on Great Charles Street will form a landmark gateway to
St Paul’s Square and the Jewellery Quarter, while at the same time marking the beginning of a high-rise convergence with the
Snow Hill Commercial District. Here, plans have been submitted for 2 Snowhill Plaza, a 48-storey residential-led tower which is set to become one of the largest Build to Rent (BTR) schemes in the country.
If all future approved, proposed and emergent projects come to fruition, Birmingham's skyline will comprise more that 500 tall buildings and structures, including nine skyscrapers above 150 metres and a further 21 habitable towers above 100 metres.
City of Coventry
City of Wolverhampton
Metropolitan Boroughs
Commuter districts
List: Tallest existing buildings and structures
≥100 metres
This list ranks all complete and topped out buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that stand at least tall, based on standard height measurements. An equals sign (=) following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings. Buildings that have been demolished are not included.
''Updated: May 2022''
50–99 metres
This list ranks all complete and topped out buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that stand between and tall, based on standard height measurements. An equals sign (=) following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings. Buildings that have been demolished are not included.
''Updated December 2022''
35–49 metres
This list ranks selected buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that stand between and tall, based on standard height measurements. An equals sign (=) following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings.
''Updated December 2022''
Other tall buildings and structures
This is a list of selected buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that are likely to stand at least tall but for which no height-specific documentation or reliable supporting reference is currently available. The buildings are not ranked but are instead listed in alphabetical order by metropolitan or regional authority.
''Currently updating''
List: Tallest buildings and structures under construction
This list ranks all under-construction buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that will stand at least tall, based on standard height measurements.
''Updated January 2023''
List: Tallest approved, proposed and emergent projects
Approved
This list ranks all buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that have been granted full planning permission and will stand at least tall when completed.
''Updated December 2022''
This list ranks all buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that have received outline planning permission and will stand at least tall when full planning permission is sought and granted.
''Updated July 2022''
Proposed
This list ranks all buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that will stand at least tall, for which planning permission has been sought but not yet granted.
''Updated December 2022''
Emergent
This list ranks pre-applications and emergent proposals for buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that will stand at least tall, if full planning permission is sought and granted. Please note that the data for each structure may not be complete.
''Updated November 2022''
List: Unbuilt
This list ranks proposals for the construction of buildings and free-standing structures in Birmingham that were planned to rise at least , for which planning permission was rejected or which were otherwise withdrawn.
List: Demolished
This list ranks buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area that are undergoing demolition or have been demolished since the year 2000, having stood at least in height.
List: Timeline of tallest buildings and structures
This is a list of the tallest surviving buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area constructed during each of the UK's major architectural periods, listed in chronological order. Buildings are only included where their existing highest point was built during the period and in the architectural style stated.
Gallery
Birmingham
See also
*
List of tallest buildings in Europe
This list of tallest buildings in Europe ranks skyscrapers in Europe by height exceeding 190 meters. For decades, only a few major cities, such as Frankfurt, Paris, London and Moscow contained skyscrapers. In recent years, however, construction ...
*
List of tallest buildings in the United Kingdom
As of December 2022 there are 148 habitable buildings (used for living and working in, as opposed to masts and religious use) in the United Kingdom at least tall, 117 of them in London, 15 in Greater Manchester, 5 in Birmingham, 3 in Leeds, 2 ...
*
List of tallest structures in the United Kingdom
This list contains all types of structures in height or more, which is the accepted criterion for a building to qualify as a skyscraper in the United Kingdom.
Entries in ''italics'' denote approximate figures.
Structures taller than 300 ...
*
List of tallest buildings by United Kingdom settlement
This is a list of the tallest buildings in the United Kingdom by settlement. The article includes all cities and towns with a population over List of metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom, 100,000. This list is based on criteria set out by the ...
*
*
List of tallest church buildings in the United Kingdom
From the Middle Ages until the advent of the skyscraper, Christian church buildings were often the tallest buildings in the United Kingdom. Indeed, it was not until the building of the BT Tower in London in 1962 that St Paul's Cathedral was no lo ...
* Architecture of Birmingham
* History of Birmingham
* History of Coventry
Notes
:A.The following Wikipedia entries are taken to define the terms "building" and "free-standing structure":
# Building: "''...a structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place''". Examples include: residential buildings, offices, hotels, serviced apartments, student accommodations, public facilities (e.g. hospitals), leisure and entertainment facilities (e.g. shops, casinos, leisure centres, cinemas), educational establishments (e.g. university buildings, schools), civic buildings (e.g. town halls, libraries, prisons), places of worship (e.g. churches, mosques), transport hubs (e.g. airport buildings, railway stations), stadia, industrial facilities (e.g. factories, works), or any mix of these uses.
#
# Nonbuilding structure, Free-standing structure: "''...any body or system of connected parts used to support a load that was not designed for continuous human occupancy.''" Examples include: bridges, castles, chimneys, ferris wheels, monuments, storage tanks, and most types of self-supporting towers (which form the subset "tower" below), but not guyed or self-supporting communication masts.
:B.The following Wikipedia entries are taken to differentiate between two different types of towers:
# Tower Block, Tower (block): "''...a tall building [...] used as a residential, office building, or other functions including hotel, retail, or with multiple purposes combined."'' Examples include: residential towers, office towers, hotel towers, student residential towers and mixed-use towers.
#
# Tower: "''...a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are built not to be habitable but to serve other functions using the height of the tower."'' Examples include: telecommunication towers, observation towers, water towers and cooling towers.
:C.In the absence of a universally accepted standard for the term Skyscraper, the following definition is endorsed: ''A self-supporting structure that is at least 50 percent habitable and "must rise to a minimum height of 150 metres (492 feet)."'' (TheB1M)
:D.There is no absolute definition of what constitutes a high-rise or a History of the world's tallest buildings, "tall" building, and the terms are often used interchangeably. However, the following definitions, drawn from reputable sources cited elsewhere on Wikipedia, are taken as the standard for this page:
# High-rise: ''"A multi-story structure between 35–100 metres (115–328 ft) tall, or a building of unknown height from 12–39 floors."'' (Emporis). According to this definition, a building ≥100m in height would not be classified as a high-rise but rather as a skyscraper. However, the definition of a skyscraper endorsed on this page is a building with a minimum height of 150 metres (492 feet). Therefore, all buildings standing ≥100m but not exceeding <150m in height are classified as habitable towers, per the definition of a Tower Block, Tower (block).
#
# Tall: ''"[A tall building can be] ...considered against one or more of the following categories: (i) Height Relative to Context "...distinctly taller than the urban norm"; (ii) Proportion "...buildings that are not particularly high, but are slender enough to give the appearance of a tall building; (iii) Embracing Technologies Relevant to Tall Buildings "...containing technologies which may be attributed as being a product of “tall”. If a building can be considered as subjectively relevant to one or more of the above categories, then it can be considered a tall building. [...] "...a building of 14 or more stories – or more than 50 meters (165 feet) in height – could typically be used as a threshold for a “tall building.”'' (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat). Therefore, to qualify for listing on this page, a "tall" building or structure must be one that is distinctly taller than its surroundings, or gives the impression of a tall building or structure within its immediate environment, or incorporates the technologies of a tall building or structure, or is, notwithstanding, taller than 50 metres. Notionally, this classification includes any building or structure taller than 35 metres which forms a distinct part of its skyline and is not otherwise classified as a high-rise, tower (block) or skyscraper.
:E.In 2020, a refurbishment of the British Telecom Tower, which included removing older satellites and antennas that were no longer in use, reduced the overall height of the structure from 152-metres to 140-metres. The refurbishment was completed in May 2022.
:F.Items in this list include selected high-rises, tall buildings and free-standing structures in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area, where the height of each is supported by an appropriate reference. For concision, the suburban tower blocks located across the region have been omitted from this section. A full list of these high-rise buildings, approximately one hundred in number, can be found at Emporis.
References
External links
Skyscrapernews Birmingham DatabaseEmporis Birmingham Database
{{TBSW
Lists of tallest buildings in the United Kingdom, Birmingham
Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands, *Tall
Lists of buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands, Birmingham
Birmingham, West Midlands-related lists, Tallest