Next-Gen Placemaking & Urban Design Challenge
West Midlands at UKREiiF 2026
As part of its presence at UKREiiF, the West Midlands is issuing a challenge to early-career, built-environment professionals.
How can Birmingham Knowledge Quarter become fully integrated with and become better connected to Birmingham’s expanding city core?
This competition invites the next generation of place-makers to explore how Birmingham Knowledge Quarter (B-KQ) can become a better-connected, more integrated and more future-ready part of Birmingham’s expanding city core.
Entrants will be asked to form a multi-disciplinary team and consider how the area can be more effectively stitched into the wider city centre physically, socially and economically, while supporting innovation-led growth and creating a place that is inclusive, sustainable, adaptable and deliverable.
The competition is intended to generate ambitious but realistic ideas that respond to the changing priorities of UK real estate, while remaining grounded in the specific role B-KQ could play in the continued evolution of the city centre.
The Placemaking Context of Birmingham Knowledge Quarter
Birmingham Knowledge Quarter (B-KQ) is a partnership between Aston University, Birmingham City Council, Birmingham City University, Bruntwood SciTech, and Woodbourne Group to deliver a world-class innovation district at the heart of the West Midlands Investment Zone, benefitting from investor incentives across six designated tax sites.
Through a quadruple helix approach, B-KQ partners will deliver an inclusive innovation district that builds on the following drivers:
- B-KQ’s strategic position next to the new development at HS2’s Curzon Street station and proximity to Birmingham City Centre
- Partner excellence in life sciences and digital sectors
- Advanced research and innovation capacity, with particular strengths in translational research and technology transfer
- A commitment to sustainable solutions, including infrastructure, building design and mobility solutions
- Integrating green spaces and public realm into design principles
Although B-KQ benefits from a strategic position close to the city centre and international transport links, it suffers from a perception of distance, both physical and from an innovation ecosystem perspective, which has affected viability and a sense of vibrancy in the area.
The main physical barriers to B-KQ become apparent when travelling from Colmore Row to B-KQ, where the quality of the public realm weakens, and James Watt Queensway acts as a physical barrier to entry to B-KQ. In addition, Jennens Road and the Dartmouth Middleway act as physical barriers for permeability into Nechells and towards the Curzon Street development.
The Challenge
Noting the above context, entrants are invited to respond to the following question:
“How can Birmingham Knowledge Quarter become fully integrated with and become better connected to Birmingham’s expanding city core?”
Submissions should consider how the area can be more effectively linked to surrounding districts, destinations, institutions and communities, while also supporting inclusive growth, ESG outcomes, flexibility, long-term resilience and a credible route to delivery.
All submissions are asked to address the challenge question at three different budget levels:
- £1 million
- £10 million
- An unlimited budget
Submission Requirements, Eligibility and How to Enter
Teams must be formed of between 2 and 4 individuals and should be “multi-disciplinary” (i.e. not from the same team/department/skillset within an organisation). All individuals should be “early-career professionals”, i.e. those in the first ten years of their built environment career.
We are anticipating teams being made up of individuals from the same organisation, but are open to alternative structures as relevant. Multiple teams from individual organisations are allowed, but only one team per organisation may progress to the final stage.
This is a national competition, and teams and team members are not required to be based in the West Midlands.
Teams should express their interest in entering the challenge at [email protected] as soon as possible, and submit their final entry by 30 April 2026.
Express your interest and find out more
Each submission should contain:
- A section outlining the team, containing concise bios (up to 100 words) for each team member and a short blurb outlining the rationale (up to 150 words) for putting together this team for the purpose of the challenge
- A written prose section outlining the team’s ideas (focused on placemaking and urban design) to answer the challenge question, across the 3 separate budget levels outlined in section 3 above. This section should contain no more than 500 words per budget level
- At least one design sketch or similar
- A two-minute pitch video summarising the highlights of the submission. Teams are encouraged to take their favourite idea from the submission and to focus on that
Submissions should be concise, clear and focused on the “art of the possible” rather than highly technical (although references to technical skills and case studies are encouraged).
These initial submissions will be judged, with 3 teams advancing to the final stage, where they will be asked to present their ideas at UKREiiF 2026. Successful teams will receive more information on this process, but this will present an opportunity to delve deeper into the successful teams’ ideas. Teams progressing to the final stage will be offered free one-day passes to UKREiiF.
All submission will be judged using a weighted scorecard, assigning equal weighting to each of the core themes outlined above, and 10% assigned to the team summary and rationale.
Additional Information
Any questions about the competition should be directed to [email protected].
The public realm and environment around B-KQ are open to the public and available for site visits.
We cannot guarantee that a member of the West Midlands team will be available as part of any site visit, but we encourage teams to get in touch to check.
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