The last Chimney

Chimney renovation became Birmingham’s staple industry in eighties, supporting over 150,000 jobs in the city, either in direct employment or related services.

Chimney project, April 1979

Started in 1978, initially a council backed job creation scheme designed to combat the horrific unemployment figures of the time. The industry consisted of the careful dismantling and reconstruction in adjacent council wards of redundant factory chimneys. As a way of teaching new skills to the jobless it was deemed revolutionary. The scheme caught the eye of the Thatcher Government who were looking to test a radical new policy, privatisation.

In 1980 the government seized all of Birmingham’s chimneys and sold them in a blaze of publicity, the classic slogan ‘If you see a chimney, sell it!’ became marketing legend. The public went chimney crazy and a multi billion pound industry was born, existing Chimneys across the city went up in value by over 700%. Soon every town and city wanted a chimney trade and Birmingham, being the birthplace of the industry was well placed to capitalise on this. It exported thousands of them around the UK. Professional services boomed in the frenzy with accountants, lawyers and consultants benefiting greatly, in fact ‘Chimney Studies’ became the most popular degree course at many universities for several years.

Sadly all good things come to an end and in 1987, the now unsustainable chimney bubble collapsed, later known as Black Monday. Chimneys became worthless overnight and the country slid into a protracted recession. Cash rich Arab investors snapped up the chimneys and for many years chimney stacks could be found dotted across the Arabian Peninsula. The chimney market has recently been reinvigorated as they are prized commodities in the emerging economies of India and China.

The last surviving chimney in Birmingham was recently sold to the city of Chengdu in China for 2 million pounds sterling and is currently being erected in the city’s main square as testament to its new found wealth and prowess.