WMCA signs landmark agreement with St Modwen

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has signed a partnership deal with leading property developer St Modwen, which will see 5,000 high quality, energy efficient homes constructed on disused industrial land over the next decade.

Overall, the agreement will support the WMCA’s target to deliver 215,000 new homes across the region by 2031 in order to meet future housing and economic demand and support the authority’s wider inclusive growth mission and purpose.

All 5,000 homes will be designed to be low energy in operation, reflecting the requirements of the UK’s Future Homes Standard and supporting both St Modwen and WMCA’s commitment to net zero carbon emissions.

As with every WMCA investment, the agreement will see a minimum of 20% of the new homes classed as affordable under the authority’s own definition which is linked to real world local wages rather than property prices.

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “By working with St Modwen we’ve managed to unlock one of the region’s most iconic brownfield sites – Longbridge’s West Works. I am therefore delighted that we’ve signed this MOU to continue to work together on more schemes in the future, as we look to build more homes and create more jobs right across the West Midlands.

“At the heart of any work we do together will be brownfield regeneration, as we focus on breathing new life into former derelict industrial sites and their surrounding areas, protecting our precious greenbelt land in the process.

“The West Works site is the first example of this, and I am really pleased we’re pressing on with the future vision for the site with the planning application submitted today.”

Through the collaborative nature of the partnership, St Modwen and WMCA will co-develop a pipeline of opportunities that reflect the shared visions and values of inclusive growth and commitment to the region.

The deal follows the launch last year of WMCA’s Design Charter and the Single Commissioning Framework, launched in September 2019. The Framework provides a single set of criteria that will be applied to all housing projects in the region, including requirements on affordable housing, design and modular construction. WMCA has a series of investment funds that it is making available in the region to increase the supply of readily developable brownfield land, to deliver attractive and inclusive development schemes with new homes, commercial, retail and other employment space.

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