Brindleyplace, Birmingham

The 18th-century canal engineer James Brindley is remembered in the mixed-use canalside development named Brindleyplace. Covering about 17 acres, it is one of the UK's largest inner-city mixed-use developments. It is home to the National SEA LIFE Center, Ikon Gallery, Crescent Theater, numerous restaurants and bars, and a large business community. Major employers on the estate include Lloyds Bank, Deutsche Bank, Deloitte, and Global.

The Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line separates Brindleyplace from the International Convention Center and Symphony Hall, but several pedestrian bridges connect the two sides. The site of Brindleyplace was formerly occupied by Victorian workshops, warehouses, factories, and wharves. As Birmingham's traditional industries declined, the area was selected in the 1980s for redevelopment as a new commercial and cultural quarter.

Different architects were employed to create buildings in a variety of architectural styles rather than one uniform design. The principal office buildings are numbered from One to Eleven Brindleyplace, with Number Nine known as the Oozells Building. Most are relatively low-rise. Eleven Brindleyplace, completed in 2009, rises to about 194 feet and contains more than 110,000 square feet of office and retail accommodation.

The Water's Edge was the first part of the Brindleyplace development to be completed, opening in 1994. It occupies a prime canalside location opposite the International Convention Centre and contains restaurants and bars overlooking the water.

Symphony Court, completed in the mid-1990s, occupies a triangular canalside site across the Oozells Street Loop and is connected to Brindleyplace by a footbridge. It was one of Birmingham's earliest major modern city-center residential developments.

Brindleyplace also includes three principal public squares: Central Square, Oozells Square, and Brunswick Square. Central Square forms the heart of the development, while Oozells Square lies beside the Ikon Gallery.