Birmingham, Salon Live Cam

Lying in the heart of England, and served by Europe's first purpose built "hub and spoke" airport, Birmingham provides a communications system that links Britain to Europe and to the world. The National Exhibition centre and the new International Convention Centre host an array of trade fairs and exhibitions, conferences and conventions from all over the world. Symphony Hall, part of the ICC, is one of the finest orchestral auditoria in the world and is home to the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

International jazz and film festivals, the Royal Ballet and an outstanding collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings are all part of the scene in the UK's City of Culture for 1992. The Buildings and architecture span every age of British commercial life, setting the modern along side the Victorian. The spirit of innovation that made Birmingham a unique European city flourishes as strongly as ever. In the arts and the sciences as in commerce.

Symphony Hall is the home of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and its conductor Simon Rattle. Acclaimed as the "finest concert hall in Europe", Symphony Hall is the nearest thing to acoustic perfection you can get. It stands on a floating base designed to minimize vibration from outside. In design the hall returns to the shape of the classical concert hall of the pre - 20th century. With its acoustic curtains and its huge reverberation chamber behind stage, it is an instrument in itself, which can be tuned to enhance the quality of musical performances.

Commercial Services looks after Birmingham's historic Bull Ring - site of a market for more than 800 years. Within the complex are five retail markets selling everything from fruit and vegetables to toys, bric-a-brac and antique vases, attracting around 20 million customers a year. Birmingham's wholesale market - which includes a Horticultural Hall, Fish, Poultry and Meat Markets - serves the whole West Midlands conurbation - a marketplace of around 5 million people. It has a turnover of 280m and employs around 1,350 people. The Department has started an ambitious programme to modernise Birmingham's wholesale markets to comply with EU regulations, and will be an active partner in the future redevelopment by SSP/LET International of the Bull Ring Markets and Shopping Centre. The Department licences and monitors local suburban markets, car boot sales and street trading. It is also responsible for providing catering for Social Services day centre users and meals on wheels, as well as Further Education Colleges and civic events held in the Council buildings.

Original terminus of the London - Birmingham railway and built by Philip Hardwick in 1838, who designed the original Euston Station too. By 1854 trains were using New Street instead and Curzon Street became a goods station. Part of the building was the Queen's Hotel. Many times threatened with demolition, it has survived as one of the City's most important buildings, in the centre of an area of great industrial heritage.

Birmingham City Council's Department of Planning & Architecture is responsible for managing development within the City, protecting and improving the environment and pursuing high standards of urban designs and architecture. The Department has over 400 staff and deals with thousands of planning applications every year. The planning committee is the only one in the City Council that meets weekly, to determine planning applications across the whole City.

Award-winning work completed in the Broad Street area, including the International Convention Centre, the National Indoor Arena and Centenary Square are just some of the many City-wide projects the Department has been actively involved with. Victoria Square and its spectacular water feature, 'The River', which is situated in front of the Council House, has recently been given a Renaissance Award by the Building Design Initiative.

Other major developments in the City, like the redevelopment of the Bull Ring, Brindley Place, pedestrianisation and the redevelopment of the inner ring road will bring new jobs and improve the environment for the citizens of Birmingham. The Department also provides an architectural service to other council departments, controls building regulations and designed the award-winning Nelson Mandela School in Sparkhill.

The Transportation Department provides a comprehensive engineering service and has an international reputation as a leading authority on all aspects of urban infrastructure, design, construction and maintenance from road buildings to land reclamation, street lighting to traffic management. Services provided include the design, construction and maintenance of the public highway and footpaths, winter maintenance, street lighting and the floodlighting of public buildings.

The Transportation Department has developed an integrated policy of traffic management and urban traffic control as well as long-term transportation strategy. The department is also responsible for the school crossing patrol service, road safety education and training, and the implementation of accident analysis and reduction measures. In addition, it is responsible for on and off street parking. Works relating to sewers and pumping stations are undertaken on an agency basis on behalf of Seven Trent Water plc.

Birmingham and the West Midlands have an office in Brussels, acting as our presence there liaising with the institutions of the European Union and companies and other authorities across Europe. They serve an important role as our "eyes and ears" there.

As can be seen from this information, by 1992 Birmingham had attracted over 50% more visits than in 1984, a reflection on its improved status.

The Heart of England Tourist Board figures show that in the West Midlands region in 1994 9.9 million trips were made by UK residents giving a total of 27.8 million nights and spending £1050 million. These figures reflect a rise of around 36% on figures for 1993. At present the 1994 statistics are not available for overseas visitors but in 1993 they made 530,000 trips, a total of 4.6 million nights and spent £137 million.

The extent of Birmingham's meteoric rise as an international city is underlined by the presence of highly reputable hotels which are all either inside or close to the city centre. Major hotels in Birmingham are: The Holiday Inn, Hyatt Regency, Copthorne Hotel, Forte Crest and Novotel.

The increase in these figures reflect both the investment in the conference trade and the development of Birmingham as a cultural and entertainment centre. The NEC, NIA and the ICC have made Birmingham the premier conference City with 42% of UK conference trade business done in the City. The entertainment sector is led by the NEC, a major concert venue which has won many accolades as the leading venue of its type. The cultural sector is led by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra based at the Symphony Hall and the inward migration of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.