The second part of our West Midlands business review of 2024 moves into the spring months and starts with the news that one of the quirkier proposals to land on the desk of Birmingham's planners in recent years was
Developers had applied to build a 42-storey tower with 300 apartments at 80 Broad Street but the building would have 'oversailed' the listed former Royal Orthopaedic Hospital which dates back to the early 1800s.
Despite plans to turn the former hospital into a community hub being a key part of the application, planning committee members rejected it unanimously in April.
The designs were caustically described by councillors as "quite frankly ludicrous" and as though the applicant had "just plonked something on top and hoped it worked".
An Ashes Test provided a bumper boost to Warwickshire County Cricket Club but failed to prevent a drop in profit at the sporting institution.
Tens of thousands of cricket fans descended on Birmingham in June 2023 for the first test between England and Australia, contributing to a £6.5 million rise in revenue at the club.
Warwickshire said the 2023 men's and women's Ashes matches drew in record crowds of 138,000, with ticket sales and hospitality providing a bumper payday for the club.
But its annual results showed that higher energy bills and fees to host major matches meant a drop in pre-tax profit to below £3 million despite the rise in income.
There was a huge shift in the region's political makeup in May as Tory Mayor Andy Street
It was an extremely close-run election which went long into the evening at the ICC in Birmingham after a recount was ordered before Labour candidate Richard Parker was declared the winner by just 1,508 votes from the 601,000 cast.
A real surprise was the rise of independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob who polled almost 70,000 votes by standing on a pro-Gaza platform.
There was utter misery for passengers flying from Birmingham Airport as people complained of spending hours hanging around in early morning queues.
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Management at the airport said building works on with early morning flights seemingly the most affected.
The delays continued throughout the May half-term holidays and into June when football fans headed to Germany for the Euro 2024 tournament.
It made for some pretty unappealing photos as social media was awash with hordes of pictures showing the glum faces of holidaymakers as they waited and waited and waited some more.
There were reports of people missing flights while others described the transport hub as a "Mickey Mouse airport" and its operation "an embarrassment".
The merry-go-round at the top of high-speed rail project HS2 was back in full swing in May when a new chief executive was appointed.
Mark Wild has brought four decades of experience including a spell as the head of the huge Crossrail project in London. Mr Wild replaced Mark Thurston who left the post in 2023 after six and a half years.
It was also announced in October that ministers would oversee the building of HS2 after then Transport Secretary Louise Haigh branded the project "dire" in terms of keeping a grip on budgets and costs and ordered an independent review.
One of the region's major concert and live event venues was given a new name.
It started life in 1980 as the Birmingham International Arena before becoming the NEC Arena in 1983, followed by LG Arena, Genting Arena and finally Resorts World Arena.
But in June a new corporate partner was brought on board in the shape of the electric vehicle charging division of oil and gas giant BP.
Owner NEC Group announced that, from September, the 15,000-capacity venue in Solihull would be known as 'bp pulse LIVE'.
The long-running, 'will it, won't it?' saga of Birmingham's iconic Ringway Centre finally reached a crucial juncture in June.
A High Court judge ruled against having a judicial review into the proposed demolition and regeneration of the famous site in Smallbrook Queensway following years of campaigning to save it.
Developer CEG wants to knock down the sweeping 1960s block and replace it with three residential towers containing around 1,700 apartments.
The project, whose origins date to 2016, has been opposed by campaign group Save Smallbrook who wanted to see the vacant, six-storey building saved and renovated rather than razed.
Completing the second quarter is the next to the Bullring which was once again back before city planning chiefs.
Having previously been deferred amid concerns over the size of the proposed Smithfield Park, this element has now been increased in size by almost a quarter, prompting councillors
The huge project is set to transform the former Wholesale Markets site with a mixed-used destination containing residential and commercial accommodation, cultural spaces and leisure activities such as bars and a cinema.
It has been on the table for years but questions were also raised in May when the council's partner - Australian developer Lendlease - announced it was pulling out of º£½ÇÊÓƵ and US markets
