Where do you want to go today?

Back in what looks like the early to mid 80s this map and key to the campus was located outside of Cox and Dawson.

The sign says (part of the sign a little hard to read on the original photograph even with a magnifying glass unfortunately)  :

A
Electronic & Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Production Engineering
Nuclear Suite

B
Computer Studies
Construction, Surveying
Dining Room
Engineering & Science Faculty Office
General Student Services
Health Services
Mathematics & Statistics
Midlands Study Centre for the Building Team
School of English & Communication Studies
Students Union

C
Careers Centre
Sociology & Applied Social Sciences

D
Government & Economics
Hudsons Bookshop
Librarianship & Information Services
Student Accommodation
Student Welfare & Counselling

E
Birmingham School of Architecture
British Polytechnics Sports Association
Built Environment Faculty Office
Planning & Landscape

F
Administration
Computer Studies
Directorate
Educational Development Unit

G
Accounting & Finance
? Programme
Business & Management Studies
Business Studies & Law Faculty Office
Mathematics & Statistics
? Centre

1
Social Sciences & Arts Faculty Office

2
Library
Computer Centre
Reprography

3
Bars
Common Rooms
Dining Rooms

A very different Perry Barr Campus

Of course the story of the Perry Barr (now City North) campus is that Attwood and Baker were built first in the early 1970s, Cox to Galton were built later in the 1970s and Kenrick in the mid-1980s. However it could have been very different. After the building of the first two buildings plans were made for phase 2 of the polytechnic. Early plans were much more ambitious and could have seen a vast campus filling the site.

In the event we ended up with 5 new buildings arranged in a kind of "quad" (at least when Kenrick was added). Original plans dating from 1973 were for 3 such quads with 5 extra buildings to be built as well as a large library to link everything up (which was more of less realised with the Kenrick library). Franchise Street, the current main entrance to the campus, would have gone (and the Hare of the Dog too!) with a new service road built further along Wellhead Road next to the railway line.

The current nursery was originally a "nuclear suite" and the post room an "animal house" indicating plans to conduct medical research at the polytechnic at one stage. What is not clear from the plans is where anyone would have parked.

William Kenrick

You always wondered why the library and directorate at City North was called Kenrick didn't you? Oh well just in case you ever did it is because the building (which was built after Attwood to Galton) was named after William Kenrick who was the first chairman of Birmingham Polytechnic.

William Edmund Kenrick FRSA was a prominent Midlands industrialist who held a number of posts in public office in Birmingham and the Black Country as well as running his own hardware company. He was a former chairman of the College of Art & Design and had a key role in the formation of the City of Birmingham Polytechnic of which he became it's first chairman in 1971.

He was not without controversy however. In 1976 he was quoted as saying students at the poly were "second class" and their role was to be "NCOs not officers". This gained him condemnation from the then Perry Barr MP Jeff Rooker.

William Kenrick was killed in a road accident on June 20th 1981 and was immortalised when the new library of the polytechnic was named the William Kenrick Library. It continued with that name until at least 1991 or 1992 when the name became "just" Kenrick. But it remains the nerve centre of the university with the university's Directorate still being housed there as well as the main library and CICT facilities.

Refs:

The Times, Thursday, Jul 09, 1981; pg. 18; Issue 60975; col G
     Mr W. E. Kenrick Prominent Midland industrialist
Category: Obituaries

Labour MP faults universities
JOHN FAIRHALL Education Correspondent The Guardian (1959-2003); Mar 20, 1976; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Guardian and The Observer (1791-2003) pg. 4

The first Director

The first Director of the Polytechnic was Mr S.W. Smethurst MSc FIMA who served as director until September 1979 when he retired. If you remember then the advert for his job in 1970 offered a salary of "£6076-£6500", by 1979 his replacement could expect to receive £15,591!

Ref :

The Observer (1901- 2003); Nov 5, 1978; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Guardian and The Observer (1791-2003) pg. 43. Photograph undated.

A developing campus

An overhead view of the Perry Barr campus probably from the late 1970s. Attwood and Baker have been joined by Cox, Dawson, Edge, Feeney and Galton. However the Kenrick library has yet to be built, this followed in the early 1980s

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