Birmingham, when the concrete was still fresh

MACE, the Media Archive of Central England, has loads of gems on Vimeo, including this, footage of John Madin's Birmingham Central Library from 1970 to 1974. It's all local news footage, including unused rushes, showing the library being built and moved into. This one's short and sweet.

Birmingham Central Library (Construction and Completion 1970 to 1974) from MACE Archive on Vimeo.

This second clip is slightly earlier, longer and more coherent. It's John Laing's promotional film for the Bull Ring Shopping Centre from 1965. It's a glorious piece of PR, considering how few shops they'd let at the time, and is full of nostalgic touches, be they Richard Shops, Austin 1100s, Muzak or a royal talking favourably about modernist architecture. This film, taken from MACE's DVD release Regenerating Birmingham, is a total delight. I must have that DVD!

'Regenerating Birmingham' - DVD on sale now (Clip: The Bull Ring) from MACE Archive on Vimeo.

Thanks to Christopher Beanland for the tip-off.