Pallasades Shopping Centre

Pallasades Shopping Centre

The Pallasades is a shopping centre located in Birmingham, England, opened in 1971. The centre was built as part of the reconstruction of Birmingham New Street railway station, and was formerly known as Birmingham Shopping Centre. It occupies 290,000 square feet (26,942 m2) above the station and is currently owned by Birmingham City Council, who purchased it for £91 million on 30 March 2009 from the Agora Max Shopping Centre Fund, a property fund of Warner Estate. It was sold to Agora Max by the previous owners, The Mall, in October 2005.

The exterior of the shopping centre is likely to be refurbished extensively as part of proposals to renovate the railway station, however the complete demolition of the shopping centre no longer appears likely. The Pallasades has seen a loss of custom due to the reconstruction of the Bullring Shopping Centre located nearby, though the reconnection of a link between the two shopping centres has helped to improve customer footfall.

Access to the shopping centre from New Street is in the form of a ramp divided into two by a painted line on the ground, so that pedestrian traffic entering and exiting the building does not collide. A narrow staircase, which gives access from Stephenson Street, meets the top of the ramp. Prior to the work associated with the redevelopment, an external walkway ran at first-floor level along Stephenson Street to the corner of Navigation Street, from where another staircase and a spiral ramp provided additional access. The walkway and the associated ramp and staircase are now out of use.

The BBC soap opera Doctors uses the shopping centre as filming locations occasionally for shopping mall and even airport scenes. It was also used as a location in the 2009 grim film 1 Day.