One of the UK's most prestigious developers plans to build 3,000 homes a year in Birmingham over the next decade - and its owner is predicting huge things for the city.

Berkeley Homes has already secured three sites - where it plans to build more than 800 homes - in the city and is in advanced talks to deliver another 1,000 by the end of next year.

Its founder and chairman Tony Pidgley, well-known as a man who calls the housing market correctly, believes Birmingham has a "world class future" - and is now a better place to invest than London.

He said with HS2 coming, the likes of HSBC UK and HRMC investing heavily in the city and regeneration like Smithfield, around the wholesale markets site, and Curzon Street, around the HS2 station, to come, it is in a strong position - regardless of Brexit.

In a wide-ranging interview with BirminghamLive, Mr Pidgley said: "I see it growing for certainly another two decades - at my age that is certainly enough.

"We are always cautious about growth but this will grow quite fast.

Tony Pidgley, founder and chairman of Berkeley Homes
Tony Pidgley, founder and chairman of Berkeley Homes

"In this town over a decade, here and in the surrounding areas, our goal is to be building 3,000 units a year up here. We are about place-making and people and quality.

"It is a very different quality that Birmingham has seen."

He added: "I don't have any doubt that in the next decade you will become one of those world-class cities.

"With the Smithfield and all the other things you are ambitious about, you will have all those things.

"You are a city which is on the up."

Berkeley Homes has been associated with London for decades but has had a strong focus on Birmingham this year.

It has set up a new business, called St Joseph, to focus on the city and has already invested heavily.

Asked about the two markets, Mr Pidgley said: "London is absolutely at capacity, Crossrail will be great, but it's still at capacity."

Berkeley has already bought and made major progress on three sites.

They are:

  • Snow Hill Wharf, in the Gun Quarter, where work has already begun on 404 apartments
  • A mixed-use scheme with bars, restaurants and offices at Eastside Locks, surrounding the canal basin

  • Plans for more than 300 apartments in the Snow Hill area, through a joint venture with the Prudential

It is also in advanced negotiations about another three sites in Birmingham.

Mr Pidgley, who was made a CBE in 2013, said Birmingham City Council had been a major factor in attracting him to the city.

CGI of how Snow Hill Wharf will transform the view along the city's canal network
CGI of how Snow Hill Wharf will transform the view along the city's canal network

He said he saw the relationship with the public sector as key and Waheed Nazir, the city council's strategic director for economy, was a big part of that.

He explained: "I rang up Waheed one day and we were considering a number of places to work.

"You want manners, collaboration and the truth, I rang him up and he said 'When? Today? Tomorrow?'.

"We want certainty and when we ask the question of a local authority we want an answer. Why did we choose Birmingham?

"It is great city from the point of view of what it's done and there will be even better infrastructure with HS2 in time. It has a lot of companies moving here and there will be more.

"It's a city that's growing, with all the right credentials, but also the right political leadership."

Mr Pidgley revealed that talks were advanced on two developments to deliver 250 homes each in Birmingham and another which will be 500 homes.

It will be a major help in a city which needs 80,000 new homes by 2031 to cope with a growing population.

And does he think the city will hit the target?

"No, I don't, but I think if anybody has a chance it's Birmingham," he said.

"Skills are the biggest problem. We have skills shortages here and we need to work at that and find a way of bringing in modern methods of construction.

"We are building in a factory now. It is time the industry modernised.

"If you are making it in a factory, you are going to make it a lot faster."

Berkeley also has a 15-acre site near to the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon with plans for a canalside mixed-use site.

Berkley's investment in the region comes amid dire warnings for its future after Brexit.

The economy of the West Midlands will suffer massive damage as a result of Brexit and shrink by eight per cent, even if there is a comprehensive trade deal, the Government’s own analysis shows.

And if we crash out of the EU without a deal - an option the Government says it hopes to avoid but has not ruled out - then economic output in the West Midlands will be hit by 13 per cent.

However, he said: "At the end of the day, you have got to get up in the morning and get on with your life.

"You come down to that trust. There may be a no-deal Brexit, I don't know, but I am a believer in the British and our work ethic and I think it won't be as dramatic as we all think.

Snow Hill Wharf was recently brought to market, one of three sites Berkeley is working on in Birmingham
Snow Hill Wharf was recently brought to market, one of three sites Berkeley is working on in Birmingham

"Ultimately, there will have to be some common sense because we are too big an economy and we are important to Europe.

"There will have to be a compromise."

Berkeley, through St Joseph, has taken on 50 people in Birmingham in the past year.

It plans to grow to 120 by the end of the year.

Mr Pidgley said that, in time, he saw its investment spreading wider than the city, out to the Black Country and beyond.

However, with such an array of sites on offer in the city centre at the moment, it is dominating his thoughts.

He said: "We haven't looked at Wolverhampton.

"We know it is there, as well as Coventry, but we haven't looked at it because this business is growing and we want to focus on Birmingham city centre.

"We will be a decade before we move out of the city centre.

"We will push out but this city is so hungry and ready to grow that there's years of work here."