Birmingham City Council joins our 'New districts: planning and development' forum this week

Upper Trinity Street, Digbeth Birmingham - night (CGI from Corstorphine & Wright Architects)

Birmingham City Council's Gary Woodward, Planning and Development Manager in the City Centre team, will join our 'New districts: development and regeneration' forum on 18 August. He will be speaking alongside developer Cole Waterhouse's Head of Planning George Smith, and Hadley Property Group's Regeneration Director, Steve Kennard, Tower Hamlets' Development Manager Paul Buckenham and LDA Design's London Studio Director, Benjamin Walker.

There are significant brownfield regeneration projects taking place in Birmingham, where new homes are being planned for the city. These include Upper Trinity Street (UTS) is a 5.1 acre development plot in the heart of Digbeth where Cole Waterhouse plans to convert the existing industrial environment into a new commercial, cultural and residential neighbourhood built around a public park and a network of accessible yards and squares. The UTS vision is a response to HS2 Curzon and emerging Digbeth Masterplans, forming part of a wider evolution of Digbeth and complementing other development proposals in the area. This part of south Birmingham will benefit from the new West Midlands Metro Line and proximity to the new HS2 station at Curzon.

Other development proposals for Digbeth include Oval Real Estate's proposed regeneration of the Custard Factory district (for 1800 new homes) and the transformation of the historic Duddeston Viaduct into a 'Sky Park'

Hadley Property Group's Regeneration Director, Steve Kennard will join the discussion to talk about the creation of Blackwall Yard, alongside Paul Buckenham, Development Manager from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and LDA Design's Benjamin Walker. Blackwall Yard is situated on the Isle of Dogs near to Canary Wharf and opposite the O2 across the river on the Greenwich Peninsula. It is one of the last undeveloped riverside sites in London.

Steve has a wealth of development experience including his role as Director of Land and Development between 2008 and 2012 with the London Development Agency, leading the team responsible for the 2,000 + acre and £600 million land portfolio. As part of the Urban Communities Development Team at Land Securities, he has led urban extension projects across the south east including Ebbsfleet International Eurostar Station, Harlow North and the White City master-plan.

This discussion is part of a new Future Cities Forum series looking in detail at proposals to create new districts and settlements, at a time when the pandemic and the climate crisis has demanded a re-evaluation of housing design and work / life / commuting balance.