B S Q
[07.07.2025]

Masterplan Accessibility Assessments

Welcome to the Bordesley Sports Quarter Masterplan Accessibility Assessment Platform. This page offers a detailed evaluation of the Masterplan options, focusing on how they perform across key criteria related to pedestrian movement and behaviour. The analysis highlights several critical factors that shape the design, development, and ultimate success of the Bordesley Sports Quarter.

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Purpose

This page summarises the key areas of focus and the findings of the spatial analysis of emerging masterplan options, which aim to support the design development of Bordesley Sports Quarter. The objective is to ensure the Bordesley Sports Quarter succeeds both as a key destination within Birmingham and as an integrated part of its surrounding neighbourhood. The findings offer strategic guidance for shaping the public realm, land use distribution, and building frontages to maximise positive user experience and connectivity.

Focusing on four emerging masterplan options, the spatial analysis aims to:

  1. Evaluate Spatial Accessibility: Understand how the designed route network will enable people to move to and through the masterplan area from the wider context, ensuring seamless connections.
  2. Assess Visual Integration of the Public Realm: Identify the potential of different areas within the public realm to support pedestrian activity and contribute to a lively, well-used environment.
  3. Analyse Micro-Scale Pedestrian Behaviour: Through agent-based modelling, assess how pedestrians are likely to move from key gateways — including surrounding neighbourhoods and proposed public transport nodes — to shape the experience of arriving at and navigating through the masterplan.

 

 

01

Masterplan Options

Masterplan Options

The following Masterplan options are analysed  –

  1. MP1 Design Freeze Option, May 2025
  2. BCC Workshop Option, June 2025
  3. Emerging Masterplan Option, July2025

An additional study is conducted for the Emerging Masterplan Option to assess the impact of extending the proposed EW Park to connect directly to Cherrywood Road. This study option is referred to as Bordesley Green Opportunity Added (July 2025)

MP1 Design Freeze Option, May 2025

Distinct Layout Features:

  1. An east–west route runs through the Training Facilities, establishing a key connection between the Blues Way and Bordesley Green Road, and supporting wider permeability across the site.
  2. An east–west route that connects to Bordesley Green Road through the existing Bordesley Green Girls’ School site and proposed Local centre.

 

BCC Workshop Option, June 2025

Distinct Layout Features:

  1. The Bordesley Green Girls’ School is retained, with the EW Park designed to run along the school’s southern edge to connect with Bordesley Green Road.

Emerging Masterplan Option, July 2025

Distinct Layout Features:

  1. The southern stadium concourse provides a direct link between the Blues Way and the EW Park.

 

Bordesley Green Opportunity Added, July 2025

Distinct Layout Features:

  1. This additional study for the Emerging Masterplan Option extends the the EW Park to directly connect to Cherrywood Road.
02

Spatial accessibility of the site

This section presents an assessment of the spatial accessibility of the emerging masterplan options.
It does so by developing and comparing analytical models that explore the potential of different routes in and around the site to improve pedestrian access. The focus is on understanding how these routes can better connect people to the site itself and to its key public squares, helping to shape a more inclusive and well-integrated urban environment.

Route accessibility potential

What does this analysis tell us?

The analysis helps us understand which streets or paths are most likely to be used by people moving through an area on a non-match day scenario and provides insights into how the masterplan embeds into the surrounding urban fabric. You can think of it as showing the routes people naturally choose when travelling between different places.

Importantly, the routes aren’t chosen simply to minimise distance or travel time. Instead, people tend to prefer routes that reduce the number of decisions and direction changes they need to make — an idea supported by research from University College London (UCL) and the Space Syntax Laboratory. This reflects how people often look for the simplest, most straightforward paths when navigating a place.

Our analysis focuses specifically on pedestrian movement. The results are visualised using both colour and line thickness:

  1. Streets or paths with high potential to attract pedestrian routes are shown with thicker lines and warmer colours.
  2. Streets with lower route potential are shown with thinner lines and cooler colours.

This makes it easy to spot the key connections that help shape how people experience and move through the area.

 

MP1 Design Freeze Option

Strengths

S1. The section of the Blues Way east of the Commercial Quarter is the most accessible part of the route. This makes it well-suited to support retail and commercial uses that rely on high footfall.

S2. The east–west route that connects to Bordesley Green Road has strong potential to serve as a pedestrian-friendly alternative to Garrison Lane and Bordesley Green Road, both of which are primarily designed for vehicles

Weaknesses

W1. The east–west route through the Training Facilities has low potential as a pedestrian thoroughfare and is unlikely to attract significant use. The presence of blank frontages along this route further reduces its appeal, making it an unattractive option for walking. Most pedestrians are likely to prefer the EW Park for crossing the masterplan area, leaving this route largely unused.

W2. Besides the main diagonal running through the local centre the other routes have very low potential for pedestrian movement. This is undesirable for supporting footfall dependent retail and commercial functions

BCC Workshop Option

Strengths

S1. The local centre is more accessible than the Design Freeze option and provides a more suitable spatial accessibility for supporting the footfall dependent retail and commercial functions on the side streets of the local centre.

Weaknesses

W1. The Blues Way east of the Commercial Quarter and the EW Park has less potential for supporting pedestrian movement as compared to the Design Freeze option. This is due to the change in alignment of the EW Park and how it connects to the Bordesley Green Road as a result of retaining the Bordesley Green Girls’s School.

Emerging Masterplan Option

Strengths

S1. The new alignment of the southern stadium concourse that connects directly to the Blues Way and EW Park has higher potential to be a useful pedestrian route compared to the MP1 Design Freeze and BCC Workshop options. This is due to the new alignment of the southern stadium concourse that connects directly to the Blues Way and EW Park.

S2. The EW Park has higher potential to be a useful pedestrian route compared to the Design Freeze and BCC Preferred options.

S3. The diagonal spine of the local centre is more accessible than in the Design Freeze and BCC Preferred options. This is ideal for supporting the footfall dependent retail and commercial functions along the main spine of the local centre.

Weaknesses

W1. The Commercial Quarter will likely have higher pedestrian activity as as compared to the MP1 Design Freeze and BCC Workshop options. This is desirable for supporting more football dependent commercial uses but undesirable if the intent is to create a quieter and secluded part of the masterplan.

Bordesley Green Opportunity Added

Strengths

S1. The new alignment of the southern stadium concourse that connects directly to the Blues Way and EW Park has the highest potential to be a useful pedestrian route across all options. This is due to the extension of EW Park to connect to Cherrywood Road.

S2. The EW Park has the highest potential for supporting pedestrian movement as compared to all the other options. This is due to the extension of EW Park to connect to Cherrywood Road.

S3. The local centre is more accessible than the other options. This is ideal for supporting the footfall dependent retail and commercial functions along the main spine of the local centre.

 

Weaknesses

W1. The Commercial Quarter will likely have the highest pedestrian activity as as compared to the other options. This is desirable for supporting more football dependent commercial uses but undesirable if the intent is to create a quieter and secluded part of the masterplan.

03

Public realm assessment

This section presents the analysis of the public realm within the masterplan, using the Emerging Masterplan Option as the basis for all assessments. It brings together a range of analytical techniques to help us understand how well the public spaces are likely to perform in supporting pedestrian movement, place experience, and commercial success.

The analysis explores visibility, natural cognition, and wayfinding, alongside agent-based modelling, to highlight both opportunities and constraints within the current design. Together, these insights identify ways to enhance the pedestrian experience while maximising the potential of retail and commercial areas within the masterplan.

Visual Integration

What does this analysis tell us?

Visual Integration Analysis helps us understand how spatially connected different parts of a space are. In simple terms, it shows how easily someone standing in one spot can see and access other parts of the space and how well they themselves can be seen. Areas with high visual integration value are easy to see and access from many other points across the masterplan while areas with low visual integration value are more hidden or cut off and difficult to reach.

In summary the analysis helps:

  1. Identify areas that feel open, inviting, and easy to navigate. These areas have high visual integration and have the potential to attract higher levels of pedestrian activity and are suitable of active functions.
  2. Identify places that feel hidden, isolated, or hard to find. These areas have low visual integration and are suitable for quieter and more private functions.
  3. Improve the layout of public spaces to make them safer, more comfortable, and better for pedestrian activity. Spaces with better accessibility tend to feel safer, more lively, and more connected.

The space which are most visually integrated across the Emerging Masterplan Option are:

  1. Arena Square:
    Arena Square has the potential to become the main hub of activity within the masterplan, attracting significantly more pedestrian movement than either Blues Square or Adderley Square. Its high level of spatial integration makes it an ideal location for active uses such as retail, cafés, and eateries.
  2. The space east of the main stadium, between Adderley Square and Blues Square:
    This area acts as a potential movement pinch point, linking the northern concourse, Blues Square, and Adderley Square. Because of this, it is not well-suited for static pedestrian activities such as gathering or lingering. The presence of blank frontages along the training facilities and northern concourse further reduces the quality of the pedestrian experience here — despite the high spatial integration that is likely to draw significant pedestrian activity.
  3. The space along the EW Park, north of the women’s stadium:
    This area offers an excellent opportunity to introduce active uses and programming, making the most of its strong spatial integration and potential to support vibrant public life.

Agent based modelling

What does this analysis tell us?

Agent-based modelling helps us understand how people are likely to move through the masterplan on a non match day.

For this analysis, we create computer “agents” — simple digital stand-ins for people — and set them loose to move through the space. These agents follow basic rules that copy how people tend to walk through places:

  1. They take simple, direct routes.
  2. They avoid unnecessary turns or backtracking.
  3. They are drawn to more open or visually connected areas.

By watching how thousands of these agents move around in the model, we can start to see patterns. The model shows us which paths are likely to be used the most, where people might naturally gather, and where bottlenecks or quiet spots could appear.

In summary the analysis helps:

  1. Identify the routes people are most likely to take across the masterplan. These are paths that are naturally easy, direct, and feel comfortable for walking.
  2. Identify spaces that may attract lots of pedestrian activity. These are good locations for shops, cafés, or public features.
  3. Identify areas where movement could be limited or crowded. These spots might need better design to avoid congestion or to encourage activity where it’s lacking.
  1. The agent analysis shows that most agents moved through the Blues Way and the EW Park.
  2. The stadium concourse to the north east  and south of the stadium were not used much.
  3. The routes in the Commercial Quarter are amongst the least used across the masterplan.
  4. The routes in the Local centre besides the main diagonal are not used much.
  5. The overhead staircase over the railway line is also used minimally.

Additionally, we simulate the movement of agents from specific gateway points and track how they navigate and move through the proposed masterplan layout during a non match day scenario. This is done from three key locations –

  1. Garrison Street : Agent paths from this location are represented in Red
  2. Garrison Lane : Agent paths from this location are represented in Blue
  3. Train platform: Agent paths from this location are represented in Yellow

Fifty agents are released from each location.

 

 

Garrison Street 

  • Stadium concourse: An even split of agents moving toward the northern and southern concourse was observed.
  • Blues way, Blues Square and Arena Square: ~50% of the agents ended up using Blues Way to go towards Garrison Street and the EW Park and cross Blues Square and Arena Square in this process.
  • EW Park: ~20% of the agents used the EW Park to move towards Borderley Green and the Local Centre.
  • Station Platforms: ~40% moved directly from the stadium concourse to the station platforms towards Bordesley Green Road.
  • Commercial Quarter: ~10% moved moved through the Commercial Quarter and Garden Square.

Garrison Lane

  • Continuing along Garrison Lane vs. Entering the Masterplan: ~50% of the agents continue moving along Garrison Lane, while the remaining enter the masterplan from the east west route to the southern of the Commercial Quarter and move towards the EW Park and Blues Way.
  • Blues way, Blues Square and Arena Square: ~20% of the agents ended up using Blues Way to go towards Adderley Square crossing Blues Square and Arena Square in this process.
  • EW Park: ~40% of the agents used the EW Park to move towards Borderley Green and the Local Centre. Some agents join the EW Park by turning north from Garrison Lane.
  • Station Platforms: Only one agent moved towards the station platforms towards Bordesley Green Road.
  • Commercial Quarter: ~20% moved through the Commercial Quarter and Garden Square.

Station platforms

  • Moving towards Bordesley Green Road vs. Entering the Masterplan: ~40% of the agents moved towards Bordesley Green Road, while the remaining ~60% moved to the west towards the Stadium, Adderley Square and Blues Way. 10% of the agents moving west left the master plan via garrison Street. Some of them engaged with the Blues Square and Adderley Square during this process.
  • Blues way, Blues Square and Arena Square: ~40% of the agents ended up using Blues Way to go towards Garrison Lane and EW Park.
  • EW Park: ~30-35% of the agents used the EW Park. ~ 25% entered EW Park vis the Blues Way while the remaining joined from Bordesley Green Road.
  • Commercial Quarter: ~10% moved through the Commercial Quarter and  only 5% through Garden Square.