Birmingham City Council
Shopfronts and shutters in Birmingham
Birmingham’s design guide wants laminated glass before any shutter, and the only shutter it accepts is one you can see through, fitted behind the glass.
- Planning authority
- Birmingham City Council
- Planning system
- England
- Main document
- September 2022
- Status
- Adopted supplementary planning document
- Main retail streets
- New Street, High Street, Corporation Street, Bullring, Grand Central
- Our repairs
- Inside our 100-mile repair radius
Birmingham folded its shopfront rules into the Birmingham Design Guide, adopted in September 2022. The shopfront notes sit in the Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual and cover retail, commercial and leisure units in the city centre, district centres, local centres and stand-alone units — not only the historic streets.
That reach is what catches people out. A 1960s parade in Erdington starts from the same assumption as a listed frontage in the Jewellery Quarter: the glass does the security work, and a shutter has to earn its place.
Shutters and security
- Laminated glass
- A see-through shutter fitted internally, only if still needed
For out-of-hours security the guide asks for laminated glass rather than a shutter system.
Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual, para 2.180If a shutter is still needed it must be visually permeable and fitted internally.
Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual, para 2.180On a historic shopfront no shutter system is supported unless the need is proven and it can go in without harming the historic fabric.
Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual, para 2.180
Historic shopfronts
In a listed building or a conservation area the council will not support taking out a historic shopfront unless it is shown that repair cannot be done.
Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual, para 2.152Where a historic shopfront survives, its components and detailing are expected to be kept and restored.
Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual, para 2.154
Signs and lighting
Fascia signs stay inside the fascia. Box fascias that stand proud of it are not supported; individual letters, painted or fixed, are expected.
Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual, para 2.182Internally illuminated and box signs are not supported unless you can show they do no harm to the building or the street.
Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual, para 2.183Projecting and hanging signs should generally sit at fascia level.
Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City Manual, para 2.184
Sources
- Birmingham Design Guide — Healthy Living and Working Places City ManualSeptember 2022 · Adopted supplementary planning document · read on 9 October 2026
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