Search begins for developer to transform Smithfield

The search has begun for a developer to transform Birmingham Smithfield, the 42-acre site of the city's former wholesale markets, in one of the largest city centre regeneration projects in Europe.

Birmingham City Council and property consultants Cushman and Wakefield have launched the formal process to find a development partner to deliver the scheme.

A new neighbourhood

The Smithfield masterplan sets out a vision for a landmark, sustainable, mixed-use development. It includes a family and leisure hub supported by shops, restaurants, hotels and a public square, as well as a new residential neighbourhood and transport links.

The site sits in the heart of the city centre, next to the Bullring shopping centre, New Street station and the planned HS2 terminus. It is expected to deliver more than 300,000 square metres of new floor space, 2,000 homes and 3,000 jobs, with an investment value of more than £1 billion.

"A once in a generation opportunity"

Council leader John Clancy said the council wanted a world-class developer or investor with a shared vision to partner with it.

"Birmingham Smithfield will be one of the largest and most attractive city centre development sites in Europe and is a once in a generation opportunity for the council to partner with a private developer/investor to redevelop a major city centre site covering 42 acres where the Council is a major land owner," he said.

Waheed Nazir, the council's corporate director of economy, said the scheme would protect the city's market heritage. "The development will promote the city's own unique character and protect the rich market heritage of the city with the creation of a new vibrant market complex; and a major family led leisure and cultural destination and residential area," he said.

David Tonks, head of the Birmingham office of Cushman and Wakefield, said the firm expected interest from a wide range of developers.

The markets move on

Markets have traded in this part of Birmingham for centuries, and the area around the Bull Ring has been at the heart of the city's commercial life since medieval times. The wholesale markets on the Smithfield site are preparing to move to a new purpose-built home in Witton, freeing up the land for redevelopment.

The council's plans include a new home for the retail markets, so that the tradition of market trading will continue as part of the new neighbourhood.

What happens next

Developers and investors have been invited to submit a request to take part by 12 September. The council says it intends to run an efficient procurement process, with a target of selecting a preferred bidder by March 2018.

The scheme is one of several major projects reshaping the city centre, alongside the Paradise development near the Town Hall and the arrival of HS2 at Curzon Street. Together, they represent billions of pounds of investment, and the choice of partner for Smithfield will shape the southern side of the city centre for decades.