Across the three-day event, we will be looking at major themes that make the West Midlands a unique place for investment and capital projects.
Brownfield
Brownfield land across the Midlands is an expanding opportunity for investors, with the £1bn Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund looking to unlock 40,000 homes and 200,000sqm of employment floorspace.
For companies with the capability to convert existing complex brownfield land, the West Midlands is set to become home to many lucrative projects.
Investment Zone
The West Midlands investment zone comprises Coventry & Warwickshire Gigapark, Birmingham Innovation Zone and Wolverhampton’s Green Innovation Corridor. It will drive up to £5.5 billion of growth and create 30,000 new jobs across the region.
With tac incentives, direct funding, and business rate retentions, the Zone will attract more than £2 billion of new investment.
Building on this, the West Midlands will be bidding for a £150 million Investment Opportunity Fund to help deliver further private investment.
Housing
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has a strong record of affordable housing delivery.
Residential schemes receiving investment from the WMCA must make a minimum of 20% of the new homes affordable. However, developers are consistently going beyond this, driving up the number. More than 6,000 homes have been unlocked by WMCA investments in the last 6 years, nearly 33% of which are affordable.
In total, our region’s local target is to build 215,000 new homes by 2031 – currently, over 15,000 are being built per year, exceeding the annual requirement to hit this target.
The WMCA has secured up to £500 million to support housing and regeneration projects in the region. It will create many opportunities for brownfield regeneration. The funding, coming from the Deeper Devolution deal, will generate jobs and transform derelict industrial land into new homes and facilities.
