Birmingham’s relentless urge to self-destruction carries on. The threat to James Roberts’ 1962 Smallbrook Ringway building is not yet resolved, and continues to occupy the headlines. The campaign group Save Smallbrook (of which I am a member) is now asking for a judicial review of the planning committee approval for redevelopment, on the basis that the carbon release consequences of the Ringway building’s demolition and redevelopment were not adequately taken into account in the decision. We await the judge’s ruling: meanwhile we crowdfund money to pay for the review.

But across the city centre, another fine concrete building from the same period of architecture is also under threat. 1 Lancaster Circus was built in 1958, designed by architects J. Alfred Harper and Son, as headquarters for Halfords, retailer of motoring and cycling products. It occupies an entire street block, and its primary 60 metre-long, six-storey elevation addresses Lancaster Circus, the most complicated junction on the city’s now mostly-dismantled Inner Ring Road.

Underneath a large rotary, tunnels carry traffic to and from the A34 road to Walsall, and above the rotary a curving flyover takes traffic to and from the A38(M) and Spaghetti Junction. It all epitomises the car-mad city of the 1960s. The city council’s stated intention is to remove the three-level intersection and replace it with something more pedestrian-friendly, but as yet there is no specific proposal.

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