Victoria Square - Public Realm Works - March 2023 update

Since January 2023, most of Victoria Square has been closed for more repaving of the square. The Floozie fountain has been turned off. Mostly the area in front of the Council House to the River statue, and the area below the Youth statue. The bit near the Town Hall was done in previous years. In 2022 they returned the Iron: Man statue and Floozie in the Jacuzzi fountain repaired.

21st January 2022

The River and Youth statues in storage, while the fountain was repaired. It was back working in time for the Commonwealth Games that summer.

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10th February 2022

The Council House got a jet wash, while a spot in Victoria Square was being prepared for the return of the Iron: Man statue by Antony Gormley.

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28th February 2022

The Iron: Man is reinstated in a new position in Victoria Square, months before the Commonwealth Games, having been in storage for around five years.

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9th April 2022

Paving completed around the Queen Victoria statue.

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The River statue by Dhruva Mistry has been lowered back into it's basin. It was removed, back in September 2021, ahead of the repairs to the fountain.

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23rd April 2022

St George's Day with a massive flag on the Town Hall. Not long before the fountain was turned back on. The paving here looked tired after 30 years.

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11th June 2022

View from 103 Colmore Row, during Key to the City. The River and Youth fountains were back on. As you can see the paving around the fountain had yet to be done, this would have to wait until early 2023, due to events coming up, such as the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games that summer. It was at this time that the Queen Victoria statue was transformed by artist Hew Locke (Foreign Exchange).

dndimg alt="Victoria Square" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Vic%20Sq%20V103%2011062022%20(2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

 

23rd July 2022

During the Commonwealth Games, local street artists painted over the old paving, as can be seen from 103 Colmore Row (during Key to the City).

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13th August 2022

After the end of the Commonwealth Games, Victoria Square was returned back to normal. This would not last long before PoliNations was installed here.

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8th October 2022

After PoliNations ended, this was the last time Victoria Square was fully opened, before the return of the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market. Before that was Diwali on the Square in October. Work to resume renovating the square, only started up again at the end of December 2022.

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12th January 2023

A few weeks after the end of the last Frankfurt Christmas Market closed, most of Victoria Square was fenced off again for repaving works.

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22nd January 2023

The route past the Town Hall and Iron: Man statue is open from Victoria Square towards Chamberlain Square.

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Hoardings have gone back up again around the Council House, Council House Extension, Museum & Art Gallery again, the renovation and rewiring works will take until sometime in 2024.

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Near Starbucks, Colmore Row and Waterloo Street. Pedestrians can enter the path either side of this gate. It is the construction site entrance.

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A view to the Council House entrance. It will be closed until the renovation works here are completed by 2024.

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8th March 2023

From the bottom of Victoria Square, a view to the Council House through a gap in a gate. The lower paving looks almost complete.

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A view from Christchurch Passage, past one of the Sphinx guardian statues. Can't see much here other than the steps.

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During the week is workers on site, so didn't want to get my camera over the high fence, this is the path from Colmore Row / Waterloo Street, through the top of Victoria Square towards the Town Hall and Chamberlain Square.

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12th March 2023

From the top of Victoria Square, near the Council House. There is a gate and high fence, so bit hard to see what is going on up here.

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The 1993 paving has been removed and they are repaving from the Council House towards the top basin of the River and Youth fountain.

dndimg alt="Victoria Square" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Vic%20Sq%20PRW%2012032023%20(2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The stone spheres / balls appears to have been removed. Is a lot of repaving needed here.

dndimg alt="Victoria Square" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Vic%20Sq%20PRW%2012032023%20(3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Photography by Elliott Brown