Editing Shard End (section)

===The new estate===
A plan of the new housing estate was produced at the end of 1945 and compulsory purchase orders were issued in 1946. Building of the estate started in the late 1940s and was added to in stages producing some variety in the housing. As usual, communal facilities lagged behind the building of the housing. Nine [[tower block]]s were constructed in the ward.

As a result of the construction of the estate, plans for a new church were drawn up. In 1954, construction of [[All Saints' Church, Shard End|All Saints Church]],<ref>[http://www.allsaintschurch-shardend.co.uk/ All Saints Church]</ref> a traditional [[Church of England]] church, began and construction was completed in 1955. Designed by F J Osbourne, it was the first new church to be built in Birmingham after World War II. On 1 November 1955, the Lord Bishop of Birmingham, Leonard Wilson, consecrated the church. This was followed by a visit by [[Queen Elizabeth II]] two days later. [[Nikolaus Pevsner]], an architect and writer, disapproved of the building calling it "a very ugly church".<ref>[http://www.acny.org.uk/7259/ Brief history of All Saints Church]</ref>

[[File:Shard End Library, Shard End, Birmingham (geograph 4136614).jpg|thumb|Shard End Library]]
Shard End Library opened in 1967 and was the first in Birmingham to use plastic membership cards instead of the traditional cardboard tickets. Some of the housing deteriorated in later years, but has improved as tenants have bought their homes.