Birmingham City Council and Sandwell Council are working together to develop a long-term strategy and vision to shape the regeneration of the Smethwick to Birmingham corridor. The area stretches from the edge of Birmingham’s city centre at Icknield Port Loop, to the Galton Bridge in Smethwick, an area associated with Birmingham and Sandwell’s industrial heritage and which includes the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.
The project will put in place a development framework for the corridor and identify regeneration and redevelopment opportunities and deliverable placemaking projects. It will help reinforce a distinctive identity for the area while delivering high-quality housing, as well as employment and infrastructure for existing and new residents.
The corridor has long been identified as having significant potential for new housing development, with the development framework set to expedite housing delivery and enhance the corridor as a healthy and attractive place with inclusive economic growth and high-quality design. These objectives have become more pressing as a result of the economic impacts of Covid-19.
The project will be led by the two councils working with the West Midlands Combined Authority, Homes England, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and the Canal and River Trust.
The councils have appointed Tibbalds Campbell Reith JV to assist on the project. Tibbalds’ support will include developing a masterplan for the corridor’s Grove Lane area in Sandwell, which could include more than 800 new homes and a new primary school on land around and adjacent to Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. The masterplan will adopt Black Country Garden City principles and address the guidance and principles set out within Sandwell Council’s Residential Design Guidance SPD and the West Midlands Design Charter.
The councils will hold a public consultation on the draft development framework and Grove Lane masterplan in summer 2021.
Richard Crutchley, Associate, Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, said: “Housing delivery is a huge priority for the area and there is an opportunity here to meet these needs with a focus on high quality design. We are pleased to be driving forward such a compelling and long-term vision that will capitalise on the area’s potential and what makes it special and unique. The Grove Lane masterplan will be the first new chapter of these ambitious plans, centred around local people’s needs and built around placemaking, sustainability, and health and wellbeing.”
Tibbalds was appointed under the Homes England Multidisciplinary Framework. Its team includes Urban Movement, which will be looking at implications of change for transport, and Aspinall Verdi, which will advise on the property market and viability.