£20 billion worth of opportunities to invest in the West Midlands identified by WMCA

UK and international investors and developers have been presented with £20 billion worth of opportunities to invest in a diverse range of schemes in the West Midlands.

The opportunities are in housing, commercial, regeneration, infrastructure projects and more throughout the region. They are featured in the West Midlands Investment Prospectus 2023.

The investment schemes include 29 projects covering world-leading sectors, transformational infrastructure and development of the metropolitan West Midlands and surrounding towns.

The opportunities have been identified as Birmingham City Council unveils huge plans to develop the city by 2040 - with a pledget that the concrete collar mistakes of the past will not be repeated. The plans are currently out for public consultation and include a scheme to make the city centre traffic free.

Mayor Andy Street says the opportunities set out in the prospectus have been identified in partnership with local authorities across the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and reflect the ambition of leaders to level up the region’s cities and towns.

“The prospectus offers investors and developers the chance to breathe new life into local communities and deliver transformational growth, putting private and public sector partnerships at the heart of the WMCA’s ambition to become a more prosperous and better-connected region,” he said.

Schemes listed within the prospectus include the large scale regeneration of town and city centres diversifying what they can offer by introducing more leisure, office and residential development, including affordable housing to help local people secure good quality homes for rent or purchase. Town and city centre schemes include:

• Paradise Birmingham
• Solihull Town Centre including Eastgate
• West Bromwich Town Centre 
• Coventry City Centre Cultural Gateway
• Creative Quarter Royal Leamington Spa
• Interchange Commercial District Wolverhampton
• Rugby Town Centre
• Shrewsbury Riverside
• Telford Town Centre Living Cluster
• Transforming Nuneaton
• Walsall Town Centre

During a visit to The Junction – a new housing development on the site of a derelict foundry on the outskirts of Oldbury town centre, Andy Street, said the prospectus offered investors an exciting opportunity to work with the WMCA and local councils to help drive transformational change across the region.

The Junction site, which had laid empty for over 20 years, is being transformed by the WMCA and two of its strategic partners – L&G Affordable Homes and Lovell Partnerships.

Of the 234 energy efficient new homes, nearly half are classed as affordable under the WMCA’s own unique definition which is linked to real-world local incomes rather than surrounding property prices.

The scheme is also the first in a £4bn pipeline of investments that L&G is making across the region over the next eight years as part of its commitment as a WMCA strategic partner.

Schemes featured in the prospectus in previous years have been highly successful in attracting investment. Work has commenced on all sites featured in the 2018 prospectus, which included landmark projects such as Friargate in Coventry and the UK Central Hub and HS2 Interchange project in Solihull, with many of them now built.

What West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said about the investment opportunities in his own words

The Mayor said: “More and more major national and indeed global players are recognising the investment opportunities on offer here in our region - including both L&G and Lovell.

“With a young, skilled and diverse workforce, internationally renowned higher education institutions, and outstanding connectivity - set to be bolstered in the coming years by the arrival of HS2 - our economy is well placed to prosper in the months and years ahead.

“This Investment Prospectus comes on the back of last summer’s hugely successful Commonwealth Games as well as the new Deeper Devolution Deal this March where we secured £1.5 billion of new funding from the Government - alongside a significant tranche of new powers covering housing & regeneration, transport and skills, giving us even more levers to deliver for local people and our partners in the private sector.”

What the West Midlands Combined Authority lead on housing and land said about the plans in his own words

Cllr Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for housing and land and leader of Walsall Council, added: “With a combined investment value of over £20 billion, this Investment Prospectus sets out the profile and prestige of opportunities which reflect our ongoing mission to further improve people’s skills and quality of life, support our world beating sectors to drive productivity and innovation and deliver our nationally leading brownfield regeneration programme at scale and pace.

“The prospectus also underpins our drive to provide the affordable, high-quality homes of the future and the modern, low carbon workspaces that local people and businesses need to prosper.

“So we want to hear from investors and developers who share our vision of a better connected, more prosperous, fairer, greener and healthier West Midlands.

“The WMCA, our local authorities and other partners stand ready and willing to work collaboratively with like-minded investors to bring forward these exciting projects and help drive our region’s success.”

What Legal & General said about the investment opportunities in the West Midlands in his own words

John Godfrey, Director of Levelling-up at Legal & General Group, said: "We are delighted to be working with the WMCA and Lovell to bring forward affordable, highly energy efficient homes to the area at The Junction in our first investment as part of our wider £4bn partnership.

“This Investment Prospectus shows what an attractive destination for investment the West Midlands is; our role in this is to put UK funds including pension savings to work here – creating a virtuous circle where UK savers benefit from UK prosperity.

“WMCA under Andy’s leadership is an ambitious and forward-thinking partner and we have no doubt our work together will deliver strong economic and social results for the region.”

What Lovell said about the opportunities in their own words

Stuart Penn, regional managing director at Lovell, added: “The prospectus outlined by the WMCA showcases the extent of the investment opportunities for housing within the region. We have worked with the WMCA on a number of significant schemes already, bringing brownfield sites, such as The Junction, back into economic use and delivering high-quality, affordable homes.

“We are committed to continuing to unlock homes that respond to local need by developing multigenerational, mixed tenure housing through our strong public and private sector partnerships.”