Booming Birmingham city centre is growing from strength to strength.
More than #8 billion of investment planned over the next ten years is detailed for the first time in this 3-D city council model, which was specifically designed to demonstrate how Birmingham can shake off the MG Rover crisis.
Although car production at Longbridge has come to an end after 100 years, the city?s professional services sector is enjoying an unprecedented boom. Landmark projects including Eastside, Paradise Circus, Arena Central, Beetham Tower, Snow Hill and New Street Station will set new standards in urban architecture and create 32,500 jobs.
The relentless renaissance of central Birmingham will also be a huge boost to the West Midlands economy.
Council leader Mike Whitby decided to publish an investment map in the wake of the MG Rover crisis, in an attempt to put the collapse of manufacturing at Longbridge in context.
As many as 50,000 jobs in the professional services sector are expected to come on stream by the end of the decade and the council is involved in a race against time to provide high quality office accommodation.
Coun Whitby (Con Harborne) said: ?Following the MG Rover tragedy we thought we should pull together a map showing all the investment which the council has attracted into the city centre. It adds up to #8 billion, and literally thousands of jobs coming on stream.
?This will give some hope to the families affected ? but it is also a blueprint for action.?
Coun Whitby announced Birmingham?s biggest sales pitch in an effort to bring new employers to the city. He hopes the Lyons Report, which recommended the transfer of thousands of civil service jobs from London to the regions, will bring a Government department to Birmingham.
Coun Whitby added: ?We are still a city hungry for mobile investment and talent. Building on the investment already secured, in the next three years we will undertake the most comprehensive marketing and sales campaign the city has ever seen to ensure that companies and agencies seeking a new home continue to make Birmingham their first choice.
?We have a lot to offer ? our city centre is transformed and the local economy has diversified greatly. We now have one of the most vibrant professional service sectors in Europe employing over 100,000 people.
?In the next five years we will see some two million square feet of office space coming onto the market.
?We see Birmingham as one of the most significant international city-regions. Our strategy for growth is as important to Britain as that in the South-east or the North. I am determined that the policy makers and commentators understand what we have to offer and the contribution we can make to the nation.
? The success of our approach is based on the partnerships we have a created within the region and with the private sector. Birmingham is a city that works ? let?s work together to make it even better.?
