The AJ focuses on the UK’s second-largest city with a study of Graeme Massie Architects’ reworking of Centenary Square; Joe Holyoak evaluates 10 years of Birmingham’s Big City Plan; we examine the impending regeneration of the Ladywood estate; West Midlands mayor Andy Street explains how HS2 could have a transformational effect on the city; and we hear the views of five Birmingham practices: APEC, BPN, Glenn Howells, Intervention Architecture and Sjölander da Cruz. PLUS A building study of the Brunel Building in Paddington by Fletcher Priest Architects; and should signatories to Architects Declare be designing new airports?