Adapt and Repurpose: Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter
Part of the AoU's Summer of Walking programme, taking place in Birmingham
The AoU's Summer of Walking, part of our 20th anniversary celebrations, is a programme of tours curated and led by our members, bringing together urbanists across the UK to explore interesting, alternative, or just plain great urbanism by foot. Click here to see other tours taking place this summer.
Keep an eye on the AoU newsletter, where more tours will be announced and reminders sent out.
Date: Wednesday 17 September 2025
Time: 16:00
Location: Birmingham, England
Curated by: Define and BPN
Distance (approx): 4km
Duration (approx): 2.5 hours
Please check your booking confirmation for info about the meeting point for this tour.
About the tour
A guided tour taking in key historical, architectural and public realm sights of the JQ with a focus on reinvention and reimagination of some fascinating post-industrial buildings and spaces that have evolved and been repurposed for modern uses. We will stop at some key buildings/locations along the way to gain limited access and find out more and then will finish at the incredible Indian Brewery for much needed refreshment.
Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter is unique - there is no other historic townscape like it in the world. Described by Historic England as “a national treasure… a place of unique character… a particular combination of structures associated with jewellery and metal working which does not exist anywhere else in the world”. It is rich in heritage, but what makes it so special is that it is a vibrant, living, working and evolving community.
Metal workers, including goldsmiths and silversmiths, have been working in the area we now call JQ for more than 200 years. Originally scattered across Birmingham, they began to congregate in the Hockley area from 1760 onwards, due to the Colmore family releasing land for housing and manufacturing. The different crafts people and manufacturers were dependent on each others specialist distinctive skills, and this ‘symbiotic’ relationship explains their concentration in such a compact area.
As trade expanded, new streets were laid out and substantial new homes were built for wealthy manufacturers - Birmingham the city of 1,000 trades. Alongside these large houses, terraces of artisans homes were constructed. In time these houses were repurposed as workshops, the gardens built upon and spare rooms had work benches installed for highly skilled firms producing a huge range of products - reaching a height in 1913, when some 70,000 people were employed in the precious metal trade.
For most of its history the JQ was a ‘closed community’ - there were no jewellery shops until the late 1970’s when the economic recession prompted some of the manufacturers to evolve and start opening their doors to retail customers. Soon other retailers moved in and in the 1980’s historic buildings started to be restored rather than pulled down.
Today the JQ is still the centre of the jewellery trade in Britain - home to over 700 jewellers and independent retailers, a thriving food and drink scene, commercial premises and residential properties - a lively community of businesses, residents and makers. Therefore the evolution of repurposing of house, to workshop, to shop continues to this day, preserving and enhancing this special place.
Printed and interactive web-based materials will support the tour and add a new layer of interactivity.
