Europe's largest regeneration scheme set to bring 12,000 new homes to the West Midlands

WMCA are trying to bring brownfield sites back to life with a £200 million investment.

Author: Katie JonesPublished 4th Mar 2024
Last updated 4th Mar 2024

After lying derelict for years, the long-awaited regeneration of the once iconic West Works in Longbridge is well on the way to completion as hundreds of new homes and a major business park take shape on the site of the former car factory.

The 75-acre West Works project – bigger in size than London’s Kings Cross redevelopment - is just the latest phase in a £1 billion regeneration of the colossal Rover car plant which at its peak employed more than 25,000 people.

The project, featuring 350 homes and a 900,000 sq ft of business premises creating 5,000 new jobs, was unlocked by a £6 million investment three years ago from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) as part of its nationally acclaimed ‘brownfield first’ programme which targets new housing on former industrial sites.

On a visit today (Monday March 4) to see how work is progressing, Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, confirmed a £200 million funding pot to spearhead the delivery of another 12,000 new homes on brownfield land across the region.

At least 2,400 of these new dwellings will be affordable homes as residential schemes receiving investment from the WMCA must make a minimum 20% of the new homes affordable.

The West Midlands was also the first region in the UK to adopt a localised definition of affordable housing linked to real world local incomes rather than property prices.

To date, of the 6,285 homes unlocked by WMCA investments since 2018, a total of 2,045 are affordable – nearly 33%.

These properties being built with the support of WMCA funding are also helping to keep the region on track to exceed its housing target of 215,000 new homes by 2031.

The Mayor said: “The derelict Longbridge site was always a stark and painful reminder of how far the West Midlands had fallen during the so-called ‘boom years’ as the rest of the country surged forward.

“But standing on the iconic site now, when so much life has been breathed back into it, shows just how far we have come in recent years. It is a wonderful example of this region’s undefeatable spirit and its ability to roll up its sleeves and bounce back.

“But this is just the start. With another £200 million now available to regenerate even more brownfield sites, we are ready to double down and deliver even more affordable homes and quality jobs.”

The West Works was a key part of the old Rover plant, once the largest car factory in Europe. But in 2000, Rover Cars and the Longbridge factory were sold to the Phoenix Consortium, which renamed it MG Rover Group, in a management buyout for a symbolic tenner.

Then, in April 2005, the MG Rover group went into administration leaving more than 6,000 workers without jobs.

The 468-acre site fell into disrepair before developers St Modwen, acquired it in 2005.

West Works is now being transformed into a vibrant, mixed-use of new homes, Longbridge Business Park and open spaces all linked by new cycling and walking routes.

Critically, the River Rea, hidden for decades, has been re-naturalised for the first time in almost a century. The mile-long route will reconnect Rubery and Longbridge town centres.

A riverside park is also being created to provide high-quality outdoor space and develop a sense of community and enhance biodiversity.

The land is one of the most significant regeneration schemes in the UK, with the latest phase of development taking the total number of jobs delivered across Longbridge to a combined total of over 3,500 jobs to date, with many more to follow.

New offices, a new town centre and park, Bournville College, and facilities such as the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, have already been delivered.

Nigel Barfoot, aged 75, spent five years at the Austin factories. He said the apprenticeship he undertook, resulting in a mechanical engineering degree from Aston University, was responsible for his career as Sales Director at Unipart Cowley.

He said: “Around five or six apprentices were sponsored to university by Austin each year plus in total at any one time there could’ve been up to 500 apprentices at various stages in their training.

“Since those apprenticeships were started around 7,000 people went through the process. The Longbridge apprenticeship was probably one of the very best in the world and it is still highly regarded in the industry.”

Mr Barfoot spent six weeks in the pattern shop in West Works, primarily the press and body assembly for cars.

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