“Infrastructure, at its most fundamental level, is not about roads and bridges, cables and concrete. It’s about who we are, what we value, and what kind of society we want to create.”

—Eric Klinenberg

<aside> <img src="/icons/copy_gray.svg" alt="/icons/copy_gray.svg" width="40px" />

What Is A Pre-Application?

</aside>

A pre-application is an informal meeting with your planning authority to discuss your project's feasibility before submitting a formal plan. It helps explore ideas, identify issues, and answer any questions.

<aside> <img src="/icons/folder_gray.svg" alt="/icons/folder_gray.svg" width="40px" />

As part of developing the proposals for the Neighbourhood Public Square site, a pre-application meeting was held on 31st July 2025 with Architecture 00, Birmingham City Council, CIVIC SQUARE, and Turley, providing an opportunity to introduce our wider mission, outline the emerging vision for the Neighbourhood Public Square site, and discuss initial proposals.

The discussion focused on:

• Securing and stabilising the existing buildings and undertaking enabling works to prevent further disrepair
• Delivering a deep retrofit to transform the buildings for a range of social, civic, and ecological uses
• Improving connections between the Tubeworks site and the wider Port Loop masterplan through enhanced access and landscaping
• Continuing to involve the neighbourhood deeply and meaningfully over the long term to ensure the site evolves in response to local needs in the years ahead

At this stage, we are particularly interested to:

1. Understand the local authority’s approach to a change of use and commentary of the variety of uses being proposed as part of this vision. We wanted to gain clarity on if any of the uses cause concern, and also discuss how flexibility and adaptability in response to future unknowns can be integrated into the site’s planning permission.

2. Build confidence behind the wider site ambitions and future phasing plans—particularly in light of a piecemeal planning strategy that reflects the phased delivery of the asset.

3. Receive more practical feedback on early phases that provides guidance regarding design considerations and full consent validation requirements.

4. Learn what repair works can be undertaken to the Depot building in the immediate term (potentially prior to planning approval) to avoid the site falling further into disrepair. This includes intervention to ensure the site is secure (eg. hoardings) and programmatic activation of the space.

In preparation for this meeting and the subsequent planning application that would follow, we produced a Pre-Application document to support discussion and set the groundwork for the full Design & Access Statement that we would need to produce as part of our submission for the planning application itself.

This Pre-Application document brought aspects of the Physical Infrastructure Design chapter into an abridged context for planning, and, despite guidance from our Planning Advisors to strip away a lot more information and only give planners what they really need and are used to seeing, we knew we wanted to ensure they were invited into the wider story alongside us, including why we felt this demonstrator and the wider shifts and layers of design behind it, were vitally important from the city’s preparedness as our climate changes, to designing for impacts in industry, supply chains and more as part of wider system demonstrator beyond this particular site.

Perhaps surprisingly, therefore, feedback from Birmingham City Council was positive, with the information shared acting as an enabler not a blocker, with it noted how useful having a printed copy of the document was for them to look over. Officers supported a comprehensive approach to the application that combined enabling works and change of use within a single submission, subject to appropriate conditions and phasing.

A subsequent site visit by planning officers reinforced this positive feedback. The design and delivery approach to Neighbourhood Public Square was informed by these early discussions and is continuing to evolve through ongoing collaboration in all directions, including with the neighbourhood, design team partners, peers, and more.

For more about the next stage of the planning process, explore the Design & Access Statement.

**Whilst comments on the planning application are now closed, we are still awaiting the decision from Birmingham City Council.

Please cross your fingers for us!**

</aside>

Pre-Application

This pre-application for the Neighbourhood Public Square is co-authored by CIVIC SQUARE and Architecture 00 alongside a wider ecosystem of partners.

Here we outline some preliminary information regarding how Neighbourhood Public Square will meet the planning and local context of the neighbourhood through a phased retrofit of existing buildings at Tubeworks, Rotton Park Street, in Ladywood, Birmingham, B16 0AB.

Explore the Pre-Application document in full:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nOY-LYq_ZD8Im-tqlXWAQw1812uC6xJh/view

Neighbourhood Public Square OS

This page is part of the process of open sourcing the full proposition and process for Neighbourhood Public Square so far, with further chapters to be published throughout July 2026. This includes material not yet published, including the Investment Ask, Real World Endowment and Radical Precedents.

Keep an eye on our social media channels for more as we go.

CIVIC SQUARE (@civic_square) • Instagram profile