Britain’s biggest Mayoral Development Corporation to drive £11bn regeneration in Birmingham
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, has launched Britain’s biggest Mayoral Development Corporation, bringing East Birmingham’s £11 billion investment opportunities under a single delivery body to simplify engagement for investors and speed up regeneration.
By bringing planning, land assembly, funding, and delivery into a single body, supported by new transport and energy infrastructure, the Birmingham East Mayoral Development Corporation (BEMDC) will be able to ‘fast-track’ development and make it easier for investors who will only need to engage with one organisation instead of many.
The BEMDC will set a new benchmark for how UK regions deliver regeneration at scale. Spanning an area the size of more than 600 football pitches (422 hectares), it will include some of the biggest regeneration projects in the UK and Europe, including:
- The £4 billion Birmingham Knowledge Quarter
- The HS2 Curzon Street Station and adjoining Central Heart site
- The £2 billion Smithfield development next to the Bullring
- A major creative industries hub in Digbeth
- The £3 billion Birmingham Sports Quarter and its showpiece 60,000-seat Powerhouse Stadium, served by a new Metro tram route
By combining a range of powers, including land acquisition, planning, business tax incentives and infrastructure funding, the BEMDC aligns the strengths of the West Midlands region and further proves the West Midlands is a magnet for global capital.
This MDC is big, bold and ambitious, reflecting Birmingham’s position as the UK’s second city.
It will be a magnet for investment, de-risking major projects while providing the stability and continuity needed for investor confidence. It will also cut through red tape, so we waste no time getting spades in the ground on these hugely significant regeneration schemes.
– Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands
It is the most significant Mayoral Development Corporation to be launched in the UK since the London Legacy Development Corporation was set up to transform large parts of East London following the 2012 Olympic Games.
Having the largest MDC in the country underlines the scale and ambition of our plans to drive growth in the UK’s second-largest city economy. It positions our city as one of the most attractive and competitive city centres in the UK – there has never been a better time to invest in Birmingham.
– Joanne Roney CBE, Managing Director of Birmingham City Council
The Mayor launched the MDC to investors and developers at the UKREiiF real estate show in Leeds, following a green light from government.
Collectively, the projects included in the BEMDC area are set to transform surrounding neighbourhoods, improve transport connections, and help raise living standards for tens of thousands of local people.