Establishment

The City of Birmingham Education Committee was invited to submit a scheme for the establishment of a polytechnic for Birmingham in 1967 with existing colleges in the city included in the proposals. The City of Birmingham Polytechnic was designated on January 1st 1971 by the then Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher, making it the 27th polytechnic in the UK. It was formed by combining the Birmingham College of Art and Design, City of Birmingham College of Commerce, South Birmingham Technical College, Birmingham School of Music and North Birmingham Technical College.

The first logo of the polytechnic can be seen on this photograph of some of the earliest prospectuses. As can be seen the first logo took inspiration from the side of Baker building!

North Birmingham Technical College gave the polytechnic its Perry Barr HQ. The college had moved to Perry Barr in 1967 having previously been the Aston Technical College. Work on the first buildings for the new campus (Attwood and Baker) began in 1972.

Refs :

The Times, Thursday, Apr 13, 1967; pg. 18; Issue 56914; col A
 
The Times, Friday, Jan 01, 1971; pg. 4; Issue 58061; col A