Major housebuilder wins £2.2bn Birmingham regeneration

Berkeley Group’s residential arm will redevelop a key neighbourhood in Birmingham, which includes provisions for more than 7,000 homes. 

Birmingham City Council will sign a development agreement with St Joseph Homes on 27 June for the Ladywood Estate regeneration project. 

The area sits on the left side of the city centre and forms part of Birmingham’s 2040 framework, which looks to build 35,000 homes. 

St Joseph has developed the master plan for Ladywood and will submit its planning application in June 2024. 

The firm expects to begin enabling works in October 2023, with the scheme taking around 20 years to complete. 

Inside the job 

Spanning 60 hectares of land, the firm will build approximately 7,531 new and replacement homes across four phases, 16% of which will be affordable new homes. 

Specifically, the plan for each phase includes the following goals: 

• 638 new affordable council homes in the first three phases.
• 628 refurbished affordable apartments owned by the council across seven tower blocks. 
• 427 new affordable homes in phase four. 
• 146 provided Registered Social Landlord (RSL) owned homes.

Additionally, St Joseph will develop green spaces, new infrastructure, and community facilities at the site; these include: 

• More than 14 hectares of urban green open space. 
• Two new schools. 
• A new pedestrian bridge across the canal and rail line. 
• Business and commercial incubator spanning 11,750 sqm. 

Social value: the firm aims to provide 10,000 full-time construction-related jobs, more than 1,000 apprentices, and a total of 10,000 work placement hours for young people in the local area. 

Full scope

The Ladywood Estate is one of the five zones involved in Birmingham’s regeneration framework. 

On the city’s Eastside, the council and Aston University are developing an innovation cluster in partnership with Arcadis and Howells. 

Regarding the Ladywood development, John Cotton, the leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “The delivery of the Ladywood Estate Regeneration Scheme is the city’s most significant housing regeneration and redevelopment opportunity and key to the sustainable growth and development of the city.”

Enjoyed this? Check out Bouygues starting work on the 700-home scheme in London.