engineering

Post and Mail building, Birmingham

Post and Mail building, Birmingham is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Post and Mail building, Birmingham rather than just read about it. In short: The Birmingham Post and Mail building was constructed in the 1960s and was a symbol of the rebuilding of Birmingham, England, following the devastation of World War II. Construction and lifetime Designed in 1960 by John H.D.

Key takeaways

Post and Mail building, Birmingham belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Post and Mail building, Birmingham to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Post and Mail building, Birmingham from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Birmingham Post and Mail building was constructed in the 1960s and was a symbol of the rebuilding of Birmingham, England, following the devastation of World War II.

Construction and lifetime

Designed in 1960 by John H.D. Madin and Partners (partner in charge, D.V. Smith, project architects Ronald E. Cordin and Ramon K. Wood). It was one of the earliest buildings to follow the podium and slab block form of architecture inspired by Lever House in New York City and it became the oldest example of such architecture in the UK once the Castrol Building in London had been redeveloped. It was home to the Birmingham Post and Evening Mail newspapers following its completion in 1964. The tower had a concrete core surrounded by a steel structure designed by Structural Engineers (Roy Bolsover and Associates) who were also the engineers on many other landmark buildings in the Birmingham area during this period. The tower was clad in aluminium. The concrete beams in the podium were clad in black Argentine granite enclosing fillets of white Sicilian marble. At the time of completion, it was hailed as great achievement by Douglas Hickman in his book Birmingham published in 1970 on buildings in Birmingham. John H.D. Madin and Partners used it as their greatest achievement along with Birmingham Central Library which was completed ten years after the Post and Mail building. The entrance hall to the tower was located at the left hand end of the podium. To the left of the editorial block is the printing works with a composing room at top, a two-storey publishing area below it, and a machine hall in a deep basement.

Demolition and redevelopment

During the building's lifetime, two attempts to give it listed status failed and demolition began. Demolition consisted of an excavator being placed on the top of the building and excavating through the building's core. It was deemed unsafe to destroy the building through explosives due to the listed buildings nearby and the disruption it would cause to transport links. The original building was demolished between 2005 and 2006. The new development was undertaken by Chatham Billingham Investments and incorporated a below ground 752-space car park, 31,600 sq.ft of retail space, 7-storeys of grade A office space (245,630 sq.ft), and 7-storeys of residential space including for 115 apartments and 10 penthouse apartments. The first phase of the redevelopment was undertaken by Balfour Beatty Construction, which included the below ground car park levels, and 3 above ground floors including for a new arcade and the retail spaces, as well as future shell and core entrances for the future offices and residential floors. The work was largely completed by summer 2015 with the car park open for business shortly thereafter. Planning approval for the future phases (phase 2) was granted by Birmingham City Council in July 2015. Construction work is expected to restart in 2016 with completion expected to be in 2018.

See also List of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham

References

External links

The Twentieth Century Society.org: Birmingham Post and Mail building Emporis entry: Post and Mail building, Birmingham Birmingham Post & Mail Redevelopment The Birmingham Post and Mail Building

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Post and Mail building, Birmingham

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Post and Mail building, Birmingham claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Post and Mail building, Birmingham before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Post and Mail building, Birmingham ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Post and Mail building, Birmingham

In research: Post and Mail building, Birmingham appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Post and Mail building, Birmingham in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Post and Mail building, Birmingham is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Buildings and structures completed in 1964, Buildings and structures demolished in 2005, Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Post and Mail building, Birmingham outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Post and Mail building, Birmingham in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Post and Mail building, Birmingham means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Post and Mail building, Birmingham out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Post and Mail building, Birmingham in simple terms?

The Birmingham Post and Mail building was constructed in the 1960s and was a symbol of the rebuilding of Birmingham, England, following the devastation of World War II. Construction and lifetime Designed in 1960 by John H.D.

Why does Post and Mail building, Birmingham matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Post and Mail building, Birmingham?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Post and Mail building, Birmingham.