Millennium Point is a multi-use meeting and conference venue, public building and charitable trust in
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 We ...
, England, situated in the developing
Eastside of the city centre. The complex contains multiple event spaces, including a 354-seat auditorium, formerly Giant Screen IMAX cinema;
Birmingham Science Museum,
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire's
School of Acting and
Birmingham City University's
Faculty of Computing, Engineering and The Built Environment, part of
Birmingham Metropolitan College.
The building is owned by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust with a percentage of profits from the organisation's commercial activity being invested into projects, events and initiatives which support
science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the
West Midlands. The Millennium Point Charitable Trust has contributed on average more than £5 million annually to the region through their charitable work.
The complex was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
on 2 July 2002, although it had been in use since the previous year.
In 2021, Millennium Point was announced as one of the first eight mass-vaccination centres, and the first in the West Midlands, as part of the
COVID-19 Vaccination programme in the United Kingdom
The COVID-19 vaccination programme in the United Kingdom is an ongoing mass immunisation campaign for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
Vaccinations began on 8 December 2020 after Marga ...
. Millennium Point's main Atrium and Level 2 spaces remained in use as a vaccination centre until 31st August that same year.
Occupants
The purpose of the complex is primarily educational, and as such is home to
Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point complex on Curzon Street, Digbeth.
H ...
. The largest tenant of the building is currently the Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the Environment - the technology faculty of
Birmingham City University. The university also operates the
Birmingham School of Acting on site.
Design
Millennium Point is a
Millennium Commission project, and it was designed by Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners. Construction is estimated to have cost £114 million, and £50 million funding was granted by the
National Lottery.
The building is constructed mainly as a
cuboid
In geometry, a cuboid is a hexahedron, a six-faced solid. Its faces are quadrilaterals. Cuboid means "like a cube", in the sense that by adjusting the length of the edges or the angles between edges and faces a cuboid can be transformed into a c ...
, with a
cylindrical offshoot holding the cinema. This annexe glows different colours at night. The front facade is mainly glass, and is covered in long slats with the logo of Millennium Point revealed behind.
Millennium Point Trust
Commercial Activity that takes place in the Millennium Point building feeds back into the Millennium Point Charitable Trust. This enables the charity to donate to, invest in, and facilitate STEM-related projects, events and initiatives in the West Midlands.
In 2021, The Millennium Point Charitable Trust announced it had reached
landmark £30min STEM support to organisations across the West Midlands over the last seven years.
Previous attractions
A major attraction within Millennium Point was the Giant Screen Cinema, which extended into the complex's
atrium. After a 10-year deal with IMAX ended, Millennium Point made the commercial decision to become an independent large-screen movie theatre. They renovated the cinema, including replacing the original silver coated IMAX screen with a brand new white screen that was installed through the roof. Barco 4K digital projectors, paired with Dolby Digital 3D technology were fitted, along with a major update to the existing 15000 W sound system. The decision was made to close the Giant Screen Cinema at the beginning of 2015 with the announcement being made on 5 September 2014.
Millennium Point was the location of Birmingham's annual "Christmas Lights Switch On" event. The 2008 event saw
fairground rides and live music, including performances by
Alesha Dixon
Alesha Anjanette Dixon (born 7 October 1978) is an English singer, rapper, dancer, television personality, and author. She gained recognition in the early 2000s as a member of the R&B, garage and hip hop group Mis-Teeq. The group disbanded ...
,
Alphabeat
Alphabeat were a Danish pop band from Silkeborg, fronted by singers Stine Bramsen and Anders Stig Gehrt Nielsen. Their single " Fascination" was a major hit in Denmark during the summer of 2007, as well as the United Kingdom in 2008. Follow-up ...
and
Scouting for Girls, with
Lemar switching on the lights. Previous events have hosted sets by
Leona Lewis
Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved natio ...
and
McFly.
In May 2006, the atrium of the building was used to host a theatrical extravaganza, ''From Ithaca With Love'', a modern retelling of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's ''
The Odyssey'', which was the launch event of the New Generation Arts Festival. Produced by
Simon M. Woods and adapted and directed by
Malachi Bogdanov, the event required blacking out the roof and windows and incorporated both a
speedboat and Lotus car.
In June 2006, the front
car park was converted into a viewing area for the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...
, including a large 6m × 10m digital screen. On 19 July 2006, the screen was strengthened to withstand strong winds, but eventually it collapsed. For safety reasons, subsequent games were shown on a smaller, temporary screen.
At around the same time, and over a period of two days, 20,107 people drew around their feet on
A4 pieces of paper and placed them outside Millennium Point to create the longest display of footprints.
In 2008, Millennium Point hosted the Hello
Digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...
arts festival. The focus was
interactive
Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...
, and numerous performances of the
Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre
Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre, or as it is more commonly known, BEAST, is a sound diffusion system specifically designed for the performance of electroacoustic music. It is a long-running project of the Electroacoustic Music Studios at ...
were held.
In the last few years, Millennium Point has become a hub of activity for events that have been publicised around the city. In both 2014 and 2015, Millennium Point hosted the Birmingham Independent Food Fair alongside Food Birmingham which saw a number of exhibitors descend onto the premises both inside and on the grass area outside to create a weekend celebrating local food and drink traders and what they have to offer.
Millennium Point hosts many public-facing events, notable examples of which have included the UK version of the
World Barista Championship an
Crowd Out- an exclusive performance by Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer David Lang alongside th
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Events with an educational focus have included hosting the
Anne Frank Trust UK traveling exhibit "Anne Frank + You" in 2015. More recently, we are home t
Birmingham Film Festivaland Indian Film Festival, both celebrating talent and creativity from the region.
The organisation supports growth within the Eastside area and the city as a whole and has hosted events such as the
High Speed 2
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...
rail line panel discussions and the "Birmingham Made Me" event promoting local industries in 2014 and 2015.
In 2018, the
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...
and
Duchess of Sussex visited Millennium point to join in on an event run b
Stemettesto celebrate International Women's Day.
In 2020, the
Duchess of Cambridge visited
Thinktank, Science Museum at Millennium Point to talk to children and parents about her project about raising the next generation.
On 4th January 2022, Labour Party Leader,
Keir Starmer delivered a keynote speech at Millennium Point, setting out his party's ambition for Britain.
In 2022, Millennium Point hosted Luke Jerrram's
Gaia
In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthen ...
, an art installation of Earth as it looks from space using NASA imagery.
Ongoing development
Millennium Point is located adjacent to the current
Eastside Locks development and also the planned future
High Speed 2 rail station and terminus. The former front car park is now
Eastside City Park
Eastside City Park is a 6.75 acre (2.73 ha) urban park located in the Eastside district of Birmingham City Centre. Designed by architects Patel taylor with landscape architect Allain Provost, the park was opened to the public on 5 December 201 ...
and a replacement
multi-storey car park
A multistorey car park ( British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a bui ...
has been built to the rear of the building fronting Jennens Road to provide access for visitors to Millennium Point,
Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point complex on Curzon Street, Digbeth.
H ...
and
Birmingham City University.
See also
*
Birmingham Curzon Street railway station (1838–1966)
Birmingham Curzon Street railway station (formerly Birmingham station) was a railway station in central Birmingham, England. Initially used as a major early passenger terminus before being eclipsed by newer facilities and converted into a good ...
– opposite on Curzon Street
*
Birmingham New Street railway station
Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and v ...
References
External links
Millennium Point websiteTide~ global learning website
{{Coord, 52, 28, 58.47, N, 1, 53, 9.81, W, type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands
Buildings and structures celebrating the third millennium
Buildings and structures completed in 2001