I’m gradually surveying the Jewellery Quarter by default , as I work through the City Council’s database of listed buildings. It’s a fascinating journey of urban renewal. Its a very mixed area, with lots of apartment conversions – some architecturally tasteful, some just an eyesore of erected building materials; lots of hip small knowledge and professional companies and their feeding stations of equally hip restaurants, bars and cafés; masses of jewellery workshops and shops and  the odd bit of good old Brum metal-bashing, together with some very derelict parts looking very forlorn.  Mix in stalled building developments, casualties of the credit crunch and you’ve got a mapper’s heaven and probably an urban planner’s hell!  Here are some of the best listed buildings I found, along with some falling into decay.

New Street station is not one of the loveliest travel destinations on the the planet. There is currently a massive refurbishment programme underway scheduled to finish in 2015. So just to get ahead of the game in mapping the new layout – here’s a view of what it will look like.  I just hope they’re not going to spray-paint all the buildings this awful  beige colour! For more information you can visit www.newstreetnewstart.co.uk

Mopping up and correcting road names in the rural wilds of Solihull saw me in Meriden where I came across an ancient memorial cross reputed to mark the centre of England. I know it’s a complex mathematical problem but has anyone ever located the precise point that is the centre of England? Perhaps it would be better not to know as it spoils the folklore!

A few pictures from the Sunday parade in Digbeth which enliven an otherwise drab Digbeth High Street. Apparently Birmingham has the 3rd largest St Pat’s parade in the world after Dublin and New York!

This august institution re-opened today after several years refurbishment and a temporary location in Coventry Street. Notice the change of name from Digbeth Coach Station. I did a survey this morning: check it out here. There are 16 bays tagged as bus-stops but the only renderer to pick them all out is our very own Christoph’s NOVAM. The red barrier around the bus roads is a work of art. I don’t know how long the copper cladding will remain nice and shiny. National Express sold the building two months ago for £16m in a sale-and-leaseback deal. It’s a couple of months late because the main contractor went bust. The taxi drivers I spoke to weren’t too impressed with only 4 spaces in their taxi rank.

To encourage us and new members that mapping the black country is not just about grim housing estates, brownfield and derelict areas and industrial sites that are barred by security gates, here is a view to stimulate us that beauty can be found in this region.

Cobb’s Engine House stands in the midst of a large nature reserve with extensive views over the region. It is situated at the confluence of a number of canals and above the entrance to the Netherton tunnel (2.5 miles long) which was the last canal tunnel to be built in Britain. There are still lots of cycle paths and footpaths to be surveyed here.