IN Brief:
- Birmingham City Council has launched the Central Heart prospectus at MIPIM, covering around four hectares of under-used city-centre property.
- Proposals include more than 5,000 homes, up to 8,000 jobs, over 400,000 sq m of commercial floorspace, and more than seven hectares of public space.
- The scheme is tied to wider HS2-led regeneration and future governance through the planned Birmingham East Mayoral Development Corporation.
Birmingham City Council has taken its Central Heart regeneration programme to MIPIM, setting out a city-centre investment proposition built around housing, commercial redevelopment, public realm, and new connections between some of the city’s biggest transport and business nodes.
The prospectus covers around four hectares of under-used retail and office space in the heart of Birmingham, bringing together sites including Martineau Galleries, Martineau Place, Cherry Street, Cannon Street, Carrs Lane, Union Street, 42 High Street, and City Arcade. At full build-out, the council says the programme could deliver more than 5,000 homes, up to 8,000 jobs, more than 400,000 sq m of commercial floorspace, and over seven hectares of new and improved public space.
Central Heart is positioned as the link between HS2 Curzon Street Station, the Bullring, New Street Station, the Colmore business district, and the wider city centre. Plans include linear green routes, public realm upgrades, safer walking and cycling connections, and stronger links to employment, education, and cultural destinations.
Joanne Roney CBE said: “The Birmingham Central Heart Prospectus outlines one of the most exciting investment opportunities in the UK, but it is not just about buildings.”
For construction and development markets, the scheme is notable for the breadth of intervention. This is not a single-site redevelopment but a coordinated attempt to reshape a central urban patchwork of ageing retail and office assets, using transport connectivity and public space as the organising logic for private investment.
Councillor Sharon Thompson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills, said: “Our aim is to turn empty or outdated buildings into new homes, workplaces and green spaces that serve our communities.”
The prospectus sits within the emerging Central Heart Growth Zone in the Birmingham Local Plan and aligns with the Central Birmingham Framework 2045 and the city’s Economy and Place Strategy. It also connects to a broader regional regeneration programme tied to HS2 and east Birmingham, with plans moving ahead for the Birmingham East Mayoral Development Corporation, which is expected to be formally in place by 2027.
That governance piece may prove as important as the design language. Regeneration of this scale depends less on glossy visuals than on land assembly, infrastructure sequencing, funding alignment, and a planning environment that can hold together multiple sites over several years. Birmingham is trying to present Central Heart as a scheme with enough structure around it to move beyond aspiration.
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “We already have the confidence of the private sector with billions of pounds of investment coming into the Sports Quarter and Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, and we’ll go even further with Central Heart Birmingham as part of the HS2-led regeneration of the city.”
The next test is whether that confidence converts into delivery partnerships for sites that have been under-performing in one of the UK’s busiest city centres. There is no shortage of ambition in Birmingham. The harder part, as usual, is making the phasing, infrastructure, and commercial timing work at street level.
