About Birmingham

Birmingham is the UK’s second city and home to around 1 million people. It stretches over a number of miles into the borders of other local cities such as Wolverhampton and Coventry, and out towards the rural counties of Staffordshire and Shropshire to the north, and Worcestershire and Warwickshire to the South. It is Europe’s youngest city, and one of the most culturally diverse cities in the UK, hosting the third largest St Patrick’s Day parade in the world (after Dublin and New York), and the largest Vaisakhi celebrations outside Asia.

Birmingham’s history is largely built on the manufacturing industry, which led to the city’s nickname of the ‘workshop of the world’ in the Victorian era. Whilst the city’s manufacturing industry still accounts for 25% of the UK’s exports, several of the old factories and warehouses in the city now have other uses, such as contemporary apartments. The city was heavily rebuilt in the 1960s as futuristic and modern, with large concrete shopping centres and a road system characterised by a series of flyovers and underpasses to connect different areas.

Over recent years, Birmingham has made great strides in its urban regeneration and cultural renaissance. It has a thriving world-class arts scene and is recognised as one of Europe’s finest conference and events destinations. Birmingham is also a shopper’s paradise – boasting the new Bullring, the iconic Selfridges building, and the world-famous Jewellery Quarter. Birmingham has recently won global acclaim for its Big City Plan, an ambitious masterplan that strives to shape and revitalise the city centre over the next twenty years.

Birmingham is a dynamic and progressive place with a huge creative industries sector, the largest outside London. Those that live here tend to be passionate about the place in a modest and unassuming way which typifies ‘Brummies’ (people from Birmingham). They also embrace change and want to make the city an even better place to be, which makes it an exciting and inspiring place to work.

We love it here. We hope you will too.