Paradise Circus £450m transformation drives forward
The Enterprise Zone resource allocation approved by the Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP (GBSLEP) board last week (14 March 2013) will enable the city council to borrow the £61.3m and use additional business rate 'uplift' income generated from the development to fund the borrowing.
Argent - the developer behind Brindleyplace - was granted outline planning permission last year for the city centre site between Chamberlain Square and Centenary Square, and this is expected to generate up to 12,000 jobs with its 1.8 million square feet mixed-use development.
Approval for the Full Business Case and Joint Venture by the Cabinet on
25 March 2013 will give the go-ahead for the detailed design of the phase one works to start this spring and development works to start in autumn 2014.
This £61.3m tranche of funding will enable the first two phases of infrastructure works. The whole scheme requires £83.4m of Enterprise Zone resource allocation for the public infrastructure works, which include demolition, highways and landscaping.
The total investment will create a net growth in business rates of £180.5m over the 25-year life of the Enterprise Zone. This will enable further investment in regeneration projects.
Sir Albert Bore, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “This is the first time this type of innovative Joint Venture (JV) structure and funding package has been used in England and Wales to deliver regeneration. It has been made possible because Paradise Circus is included in the Enterprise Zone and facilitated by the close working relationship between the city council, Argent and the LEP.”
Rob Groves, leading the project for Argent, said: “Following the GBSLEP board's approval, we are very pleased that the business case for the joint venture with Birmingham City Council on the Paradise Circus proposals is to be considered by Cabinet. Obviously, we cannot pre-empt the decision but we are confident that a robust case has been made and are hopeful of a positive outcome. If approved, this will be an extremely significant milestone in the delivery of a truly transformational proposal for the city. After many years of planning, consultation and preparation, the decision would make the delivery of the first phase of the Paradise Circus redevelopment very much a reality. With the full support and backing of Birmingham City Council and GBSLEP, we would be able to actively move forward on this major project.''
Andy Street, GBSLEP Chair, said: “The approval of this allocation from the Enterprise Zone Investment Plan advances the funding package for the Paradise Circus redevelopment. The Enterprise Zone model has enabled the complex challenges this project presents to be overcome, combining the imagination and risk-taking of the private sector with just the right support from the public sector. We're delighted to have agreed this - now we can start working with the developers to drive this transformational project which is a huge statement of intent for the city, the Local Enterprise Partnership and the Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone.”
Notes to editors
1. Spokespeople from all three partners can be made available for further more detailed or technical conversations with the media, if required.
2. Birmingham City Council's Cabinet will meet at 1.30pm on 25 March 2013 at the Council House to discuss the proposals. The meeting is open to the public and will be streamed live at www.birmingham.public-i.tv. The report is available at www.birmingham.gov.uk/democracy.
3. The outline planning application for up to 10 buildings in seventeen acres of land between Centenary Square and Chamberlain Square was approved late last year. The scheme will generate up to 12,000 jobs in a mixed use redevelopment including offices, shops, leisure and cultural facilities together with civic amenities and a replacement for the existing Copthorne Hotel. In total, the £450m development will comprise a gross internal area of some 1.8 million sq ft, making it one of the UK's largest city centre planning applications approved in 2012.
4. Plans for the first phase of the scheme will include the new road layout, substantial new public realm and two new office buildings providing over 250,000 sq ft of Grade A office space. A detailed planning application is expected to be lodged in early 2014.
5. Work on phase one of the development is anticipated to start in autumn 2014 for completion in 2018 and it is intended the entire transformation will be completed by 2026.
For further information please contact:
Birmingham City Council
Deborah Harries/press office (0121 303 4777/0121 303 3287)
Argent
Juliet Collings/Stephen Osborne-Brown, Core Marketing (0121 232 5000)
GBSLEP
Mat Danks, DC-PR (07837 515790)
