Major engineering firm to help strategise Birmingham’s future development

A major design and engineering firm, Arcadis, is joining Birmingham City Council in developing regeneration plans for the city.

The council has already released a template, Our Future City Plan (OFCP), which lays out a vision for how the city could be reimagined and changed in the years up to 2040.

Proposals for the ambitions and development of the seven identified Central Renewal Areas of Park Birmingham, Ladywood, Edgbaston Village, Hockley and St Georges, Knowledge Quarter and Nechells, Digbeth and Bordesley, Smithfield Rea Valley and Highgate and Balsall Heath.  

Cllr Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: ‘This is a golden decade for Birmingham: The opportunities presented by HS2, expansion of the Midland Metro and the Commonwealth Games, the city will continue to be a major regional, national hub and centre for international investment.

‘As the main centre of development activity in our city over the last 30 years, investment in the city centre has provided jobs, homes, improvements to sustainable transport, new cultural destinations and educational opportunities.

‘This plan marks a major change from previous approaches to the city centre, with a clear intention to spread the benefits of development and investment into inner city areas, supporting access to infrastructure, jobs and improved public spaces.’

The OFCP focuses on six strategic themes, including community, growth, sustainability, heritage, education and connectivity and aims to create a zero-carbon future and address inequality.  

Going forward Arcadis will work as a lead consultant on the project alongside key partners in construction and architecture to ensure the plans for the coming decades deliver benefits to residents.

Some of the plans outlined in the OFCP include creating 15-minute neighbourhoods, affordable homes, providing more cycle and walking routes and space to grow food and improving public transport.

In related news, Birmingham City Council is to pursue a Selective Licensing Scheme in the city, which would cover 25 wards where the Private Rented Sector is above 20% of properties and the wards have high levels of deprivation and/or crime.

Photo by Luke Matthews