The Black Country LEP will highlight £6.bn of investment opportunities to potential investors, property agents, developers and media from more than 100 countries. The team will showcase opportunities in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton which will contribute to the Black Country’s reputation as the UKs largest High Value Manufacturing cluster, see the continued re-imagination of the whole area through the Black Country Garden City and see the on-going transformation of Black Country towns and city centres.
Dudley known for its manufacturing industry offers investors the incentives of DY5 Business and Innovation Enterprise Zone with 70Ha of land and a number of significant development sites and investment opportunities. The phase two Enterprise Zone can offer high density sites for residential, office, retail and technology on a number of sites. A new Metro line running from Brierley Hill into central Birmingham will see improved connectivity. The metro also provides opportunities for associated infrastructure investment.
Sandwell has made significant progress as a location where businesses and residents thrive. Sandwell has undergone one of the largest regeneration programmes in the West Midlands representing over a billion pounds worth of investment, including: £450m Investment West Bromwich Regeneration Phase 1; £353m Midland Metropolitan Hospital; £200m investment in 1 million Sq. Ft. of commercial development; £48m investment Woods Lane project facilitating 350 homes. There are future investment opportunities around the 200m metro extension increasing Sandwell’s connectivity to the rest of region as well as unlocking land for office, industrial and housing developments. At MIPIM the Black Country LEP will talk about future investment opportunities for 700 homes at Bescot Friar Park and 800 homes at Grove Lane Intervention Area on the Birmingham border. Both opportunities benefit from UK government funding through Housing Zone Status and contributing to the Black Country Garden City.
Walsall town centre has attracted more than £410m since 2009. More than 6,800 new homes have been delivered across the borough and over 50ha have been developed for employment use. Henry Boot Developments Ltd was announced as the preferred development partner for Phoenix 10 a £60m redevelopment of 18ha site to deliver 57,500sqm of new industrial floorspace. Across Walsall the £65m investment at M6 Junction 10 will improve capacity and traffic flows and as part of the Black Country Garden City the £87m Goscote Lane Corridor Regeneration Area project will deliver 838 new homes, with 50% of the development now completed.
£3.7bn investment is confirmed and in the pipeline for the City of Wolverhampton. Planning permission has been granted for phase one of the Westside development, which will create a multiplex cinema, 50,000 square feet of additional leisure space, new restaurants covering 40,000 square feet, a 100-plus bed hotel, and a multi-storey car park. At MPIM the team will outline the opportunity to shape a highly significant public and private sector led employment project which will deliver up to 100 acres of land for development and help continue the expansion of the growing cluster of advanced manufacturing businesses around i54 / Junction 2 of the M54 motorway, a £600m+ investment opportunity set to create 160,000m2 floor space.
Sarah Middleton, Chief Executive Black Country Consortium: “The Midlands UK Pavilion actively demonstrates that our region is collectively driving forward investment and collaborating to showcase an outstanding mix of investment opportunities.
“Alongside our colleagues we will demonstrate the progress and opportunities through our 21st Century Garden City - one of Britain’s biggest ever brownfield site regeneration programmes; showcase the investment opportunities across our strategic centres; and present our HVM City Opportunity Gateway, directly aligned with the HS2 Procurement Portal, which is already driving supply chain development and integration across the Black Country.
“The Black Country team will use MIPIM as a platform for demonstrating our exciting economic future through showcasing the Black Country’s lucrative growth potential.”
For further information and to keep in touch with the Midlands UK team visit www.blackcountrylep.co.uk / www.investblackcountry.com and follow @blackcountrylep / @invest_bc #MIPIM2018