News on HS2 in Birmingham

Birmingham Curzon Street Station, due to open in 2026, will be at the centre of significant development taking place in the east of Birmingham City Centre. Bordered by colleges and universities, the creative area of Digbeth as well as the Bullring retail district, it will become a destination in itself.

Working with local stakeholders, HS2 is developing a vision for the area to set out key principles for how retail and public spaces surrounding the station will look.

Working with Young Giant, part of Digbeth-based social enterprise Beatfreeks, we recruited a group of young people to inspire, influence and generate ideas for the uses and look of these new public spaces.

The group was made up of 14 people aged between 16 and 25 from east Birmingham, an area that will be impacted by HS2 construction, but will also benefit from increased connectivity once the new railway and other transport improvements are complete.

To help the group understand the context of the station, we took them on a tour of the site and to the Old Curzon Street Station before holding a creative ideas workshop.

A local artist captured the young people’s views on the day and these views will be turned into an illustrated report that the young people will share with a group including HS2 and other local stakeholders later this year. This group will develop the vision for the areas around Curzon Street Station, giving local young people a genuine seat at the table in shaping the future of Birmingham and HS2’s legacy in the city.