13 Facts About Herbert Manzoni

Sir Herbert John Baptista Manzoni CBE MICE was a British civil engineer known for holding the position of City Engineer and Surveyor of Birmingham from 1935 until 1963.

Herbert Manzoni moved to Birmingham in 1923 and became an engineering assistant in the Sewers and Rivers Department.

Herbert Manzoni became Chief Engineer for the department four years later.

In 1935, Herbert Humphries retired from his post as City Surveyor and Manzoni took over the post at the age of 36.

In 1941, Herbert Manzoni anticipated the damage that would be caused by the Birmingham Blitz and, in October 1941, announced the creation of four advisory panels within the council to focus upon Housing, Traffic, Redevelopment Areas and Limitation of the city.

Herbert Manzoni launched a citywide slum clearance scheme, and replaced the housing with high density schemes consisting of tower blocks.

Herbert Manzoni used the Town and Country Planning Act 1944 to designate redevelopment areas in Birmingham.

Herbert Manzoni took advantage of the Housing Act of 1936 to designate 267 acres of land in Duddeston and Nechells as a redevelopment area.

Herbert Manzoni designated a further four in Newtown, Ladywood, Lee Bank, and Highgate, totalling around 1,400 acres.

Herbert Manzoni did not believe in the preservation of old buildings and saw their retention for sentimental purposes rather than valuable purposes.

Herbert Manzoni's attitudes became the orthodoxy and directly or indirectly led to the demolition of a number of much loved landmarks, such as the old Birmingham Central Library and the walls of the original Birmingham Market Hall.

Herbert Manzoni began planning an Inner Ring Road from 1943, and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1946 allowing construction to commence.

In February 1960, Herbert Manzoni was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a position he served in for 21 months instead of the customary year-long tenure due to the untimely death of his predecessor Arthur Hartley.