Plans to transform Birmingham’s traffic-clogged ring road into tree-lined cycling routes, new parks and communities are at the heart of a “bold vision” for the city by 2040.
Birmingham will unveil the plans at UKREiiF in Leeds next week, calling it the city’s “most important regeneration programme in more than a century”.
It has plans to create 35,000 homes as part of its Our Future City: Central Birmingham Framework 2040, and aims to double the number of green spaces and add 124 miles of walking and cycling routes.
The framework, which has been developed with Arcadis as lead consultant and Howells providing architectural support, outlines the potential to create 74,000 jobs – an 80% increase on the city centre’s current employment capacity – by improving or creating 300ha of commercial space.
Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council said the framework would “supercharge our quest to be a leading international city”, and the vision would transform a city known for cars and roundabouts into a global blueprint for green, walkable and sustainable city living.
Simon Marks, Birmingham and Midlands city executive at Arcadis, added: “The vision is bold and rightly ambitious. The scale and nature of the proposed transformation has not been seen in over a century. Moreover, inclusive growth is at its heart where the communities and citizens of Birmingham will directly benefit from the transformation.”
Under the plan, some of the city’s tunnels and parts of the ring road will be transformed into “greenways”, creating a “green corridor” and revitalising streets, squares and spaces.
Alongside this, huge areas of concrete and tarmac infrastructure will be transformed to provide space for trees and planting. Existing bridges and subways that have severed areas of the city for over 50 years will be removed.
Birmingham City Council hopes the “vibrant new neighbourhoods” will double the city’s population density, bringing it into line with other major European cities. But it has pledged this will not come at the expense of green open space, adding “the concrete bound mistakes of the past will not be repeated”.
Howells managing partner Glenn Howells said the framework represented “a once-in-a-generation ambition for equitable growth for Birmingham”.
The framework is geographically grouped into five key zones:
• City Heart: Bull Ring, Colmore Business District, Snowhill and Steelhouse, Southside, Town, Westside;
• Central North: Eastside and Aston Triangle, Gun Quarter, Nechells, Newtown;
• Central East: Bordesley, Digbeth, Small Heath;
• Central South: Balsall Heath, Edgbaston, Highgate;
• Central West: Hockley, Jewellery Quarter, Ladywood, Spring Hill.
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