The long-awaited expansion of the Innovation Birmingham Campus is set to begin in three months after plans were submitted.

Funding is in place for the 38,000 sq ft iCentrumTM building, enabling construction work to commence as soon as planning approval is granted.

The new businesses in iCentrumTM will create 400 skilled tech jobs, generating £25 million for the local economy each year, according to Innovation Birmingham chief executive Dr David Hardman MBE.

He said: "We have been actively promoting the proposals for the iCentrumTM building for the best part of four years so to now have funding secured and a planning application lodged is a significant milestone.

"It may only be a 38,000 sq ft building but it will have an international reach from the day it opens.

"The top floor will feature a range of self-contained, highly flexible office suites for growing entrepreneurial tech companies.

"The first floor will be home to our new Serendip incubator which will deliver a rich blend of disruptive innovation across four key sectors in a truly smart city.

"The ground floor and mezzanine level will be the place to meet, be innovative, do business and launch a new tech start-up in Birmingham.

"It will be a magnet for physical and virtual communication; the lighthouse for Birmingham’s Smart City Agenda."

The Innovation Birmingham Campus is wholly owned by Birmingham City Council. A commercial loan for the £7.5 million construction and fit-out costs has been secured from the council.

Work will be carried out by Stourport-on-Severn firm Thomas Vale Construction, part of global construction group Bouygues Construction.

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