History
The original interchange was built on the site by Midland Red in 1929 to be used as a bus depot. This was later converted in to Digbeth Coach Station. The original building was dark and dingy as it was not originally intended to serve passengers as a coach interchange.
Plans were initially developed for a new coach station on Great Charles Street, as Digbeth was considered by National Express to be an "undesirable" location. However, after the completion of the new Bullring and the planned Eastside redevelopment, it was decided to demolish the old structure and build a new coach station on the same site.
Outline planning application for a design by MAKE Architects was submitted on behalf of National Express Ltd to Birmingham City Council in March 2006. However this option was abandoned in favour of a competing design by SBS Architects.
The final planning application for the design by SBS Architects was submitted on 29 October 2007.
The old coach station closed in November 2007 for redevelopment and during reconstruction National Express used a temporary site in Oxford Street on the opposite side of Digbeth High Street, called Birmingham Central Coach Station. The new station has been awarded an 'Excellent' rating under the BRE Environmental Assessment Method - the most widely used system for judging how environmentally friendly a building is.
Read more about this topic: Birmingham Coach Station
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