Birmingham made radar small enough to fly
- The cavity magnetron, 1940
- The UK’s largest digital tech campus
- 170+ tech firms in one building
- Five minutes from the HS2 terminus
How Birmingham grew
The short version, in order. Pick a year.
The cavity magnetron
In February, at the University of Birmingham, John Randall and Harry Boot built a valve that produced high-power microwaves from something small enough to fit in an aircraft. It made airborne radar possible.
The cavity magnetron, February 1940
On 21 February 1940 John Randall and Harry Boot, working at the University of Birmingham, got a device the size of a fist to produce more than 400 watts at a wavelength of under ten centimetres. That was roughly a hundred times more microwave power than anyone had managed before.
The cavity magnetron made compact radar possible, and after Churchill handed the design to the United States it was mass-produced there in enormous numbers. Practical high-power microwaves are the ancestor of the microwave links that still carry traffic between masts, and of the oven in your kitchen.
It is a very Birmingham story: not a theory, a component. The city has always been better at making the thing than talking about it.
What that means if you trade in Birmingham
Birmingham is the largest city outside London and a genuinely working one, with an economy built on firms that make, fit and fix things. Customers here tend to be practical, price-aware and unimpressed by flourish.
That suits a plain website. Say what you do, what it costs, where you cover and how fast you can get there, and you will beat a competitor whose home page opens with a video of a sunrise.
What Birmingham businesses ask us for
Cover the whole conurbation honestly
Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and the Black Country are separate journeys. Claiming all of them vaguely helps nobody.
Trade credentials up front
Gas Safe, NICEIC, insurance figures. In a city of tradespeople the badges do real work.
Straight prices
Practical customers ask what it costs first. Answer before they have to.
The tech scene here
Birmingham is the largest city in the country after London, and its digital economy is correspondingly broad rather than specialised — health, transport, finance, property and sport all have technology clusters here, plus a very large professional services base buying from them.
The city also has the youngest population of any major European city and three universities feeding into it, which is the underlying reason the tech employers keep expanding here rather than the other way round.
The practical effect for a small business: your competition is more likely than not to have a decent website, because the people who build them live here.
Where people work
The centre of gravity is the Knowledge Quarter around Aston, five minutes from New Street.
Innovation Birmingham
Bruntwood SciTech’s campus and the largest in the UK dedicated to digital technology businesses — over 100,000 sq ft, more than 170 tech companies, and something like 140 events a year.
iCentrum and Faraday Wharf
The two buildings on the same campus that carry most of the coworking and scale-up space.
Events and design
Birmingham’s calendar leans towards design and making, which fits a city that has always been a workshop.
Birmingham Design Festival
The city’s design festival, with talks and workshops across venues including the Innovation Birmingham campus.
What the campus runs
Around 140 events a year on the Innovation Birmingham campus alone, most of them open to people who are not tenants.
How local businesses use their sites
It changes by trade, but the website is nearly always the first contact — and usually the only one before someone spends money.
Trades and home services
Birmingham is enormous. The suburbs you actually cover matter more here than almost anywhere.
Clinics, salons and studios
People expect to book online rather than ring during working hours.
Shops, cafés and bars
Menus, stock, hours and location — current, and readable on a small screen.
Professional and B2B services
A large professional services market means buyers who compare. Be specific and be quick to read.
Why FastSites works here
In a city this size the risk is not being disliked, it is being invisible. A fast, clear one-page site that names the parts of Birmingham you actually serve does more than a large site nobody finds.
Live in days, price published, built for phones. Name Moseley, Digbeth, Harborne or Solihull and turn up when someone there searches.
How well do you know Birmingham?
Five quick questions. Get all five right and you win a 10% off discount code for your website. Every answer is somewhere on this page, so have a read if you get stuck.
Birmingham quiz · 1 of 5
What did John Randall and Harry Boot build at the University of Birmingham in 1940?
Common questions
The simplest one-page site starts at £15 a month, with the website build included and nothing to pay up front. Every plan and its price is published on the pricing page before you speak to anyone.
Sign-up takes about 3 minutes and the build questionnaire about 5. Most sites are then designed and built within 21 hours, and live within days of the brief being answered.
No setup fee and no hidden extras. Your monthly plan covers the website build and hosting. Done-for-you plans have a 12-month minimum term, then you can cancel any time from your dashboard.
Yes — you can upgrade at any time as your business grows, with no need to start over.