Set up in Dudley
The beating heart of the Black Country, Dudley is only 30 minutes from Birmingham and has a rich industrial heritage and an ambitious vision for the future. The Dudley Borough Economic Regeneration Strategy (ERS) has set out on an ambitious roadmap looking to attract inward investment, develop local talent and grow existing companies.
As a borough with 313,000 residents, the 25th largest in the UK, Dudley has already been the choice location for over 10,000 local businesses. Set against picturesque landscapes and heritage sites including the Black Country Living Museum, seen across television on the BBC’s Peaky Blinders, Dudley is now opening its doors to large-scale external investment and new development opportunities.
The Black Country
Dudley has manufacturing and industry baked into its DNA. The borough has a long history of providing world-class manufacturing and engineering and is being transformed with multi-million-pound business, transport and retail developments. The area is already home to manufacturing, engineering, technological, retail, digital and creative companies.
There’s no better time to start in Dudley. Its key location in the Black Country puts it at centre of the United Kingdom, and gives companies a hub that makes most of the country accessible. 28,000 sq ft of development is seeking funding to redevelop brownfields and industrial areas. New initiatives from the Borough already generating £6.3bn GVA that plan to regenerate Dudley town centre and beyond are also shining light on new opportunities for businesses to disrupt their markets in meaningful ways right here in the Black Country.
Investment in Dudley
At the heart of the country, Dudley’s plans for regeneration cover a variety of sites and projects across the town centre that offer exciting opportunities for investors and companies to start the next phase of their journey in the West Midlands.
Mixed use regeneration schemes, including Portersfield, harbour the opportunity to transform Dudley’s town centre. A ten-acre site, Portersfield aims to create a new urban quarter including 330 residential dwellings and 20,000 square feet of office space. Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council are already seeking funding, with commencement planned for 2028.
With £24 million also budgeted for development of the Dudley Transport Interchange, Dudley is also regenerating its connectivity, giving it competitive advantages in the heart of a region where 82.9% of the UK’s population are already only a 4-hour drive away.
A multimodal transport facility, the interchange will allow passengers to switch seamlessly between bus services and the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension, giving companies setting up in the region a wider talent pool to access, alongside potentially greater footfall in the town centre.
Why Set Up Business in the UK?
Specialised Talent
Dudley College of Technology welcomes around 12,000 students each year and offers specialist courses crucial to many key sectors, from mechanical engineering to accounting. The institution is one of only 10 Construction Technical Excellence Colleges (CTECs) in England, yet Dudley also boasts 67,000 people educated to a degree level or higher.
Companies setting up in the region can also pull talent from two of the three major cities in the West Midlands, Birmingham and Wolverhampton, exploiting strong transport and connectivity links to access more of the right talent fast, a crucial element in maintaining and scaling any firm.
Quality of Life
- Living in Dudley puts you 10 minutes away on average from employment centres via public transport.
- Birmingham’s NEC and Coventry’s Ricoh arena are within driving distance.
- 377,024 people visited Dudley’s Black Country Living Museum in 2024.
