Birmingham's famous 'Floozie in the Jacuzzi' fountain to be brought back into use in £25 million city regeneration
Birmingham city centre is set for a £25 million regeneration, which include bringing Victoria Square's famous 'Floozie in the Jacuzzi' back into use.
Proposals to improve the city centre as it prepares to welcome around half a [**million more visitors to the city during the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will be discussed at Cabinet on 29 October.**](http://Birmingham celebrates three years until start of Commonwealth Games)
The proposals include:
Renewing 40,000 sq m of public realm.
Repair and restore The River fountain in Victoria Square.
Extending the pedestrian area around Victoria Square.
Improving security measures at 19 city centre locations.
Replacing pavement, lighting columns, CCTV and street furniture.
Over a million tickets will be sold to those who attend Commonwealth Games events in Birmingham and across the West Midlands in 2022, with more than 447,000 more people expected to visit the city during Games time.
The proposed works will be carried out in two phases. The first stage will include improvements to Victoria Square, Colmore Row, Waterloo St, New St, Ethel St, Lower Temple St and Temple St. The second phase will incorporate areas around Bennetts Hill, Temple Row, High St, Union St, Union Passage, Warwick Passage and Needless Alley.
The work will also include permanent hostile vehicle security measures as part of a safety strategy for the city centre.
Birmingham City Council says funding of £5million has already been secured as part of the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund. A further £5million is being sought from a capital budget that is part of the overall Commonwealth Games budget, confirmed earlier this year as being a £778million investment into the city and region. Revenue generated by the Birmingham Clean Air Zone project has also been identified as a funding source for this city centre improvement scheme.
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