The Birmingham office of international architect Broadway Malyan has been appointed to lead the team responsible for the long term regeneration of Sutton Coldfield town centre.

Birmingham City Council has instructed the company to come up with a clear vision for the town's remodelling.

Hugo Fitzgerald, associate director at Broadway Malyan's Birmingham office, said: "Sutton Coldfield remains one of the region's most desirable locations to live but in recent years, the town's retail centre has begun to lag behind some of its competitors such as Solihull.

"At present the current layout of the town centre is something of an 'urban assault course' with the ring road acting as a barrier, so our aim is to try and re-connect the wider areas to enable greater accessibility and ease of movement to show all that Sutton has to offer to its visitors and residents alike and create an exciting vision for the future growth."

The company starts with a blank canvas but Mr Fitzgerald said the plan initially would involve the formation of a number of character areas such as the retail hub on the Parades.

"We will then concentrate on connecting these to enable the areas to interact and communicate with each other and be read as a homogenous whole.

"The important thing is that this exercise will help the town centre evolve; it is not about knocking everything down and starting again," he added.

There will be a number of key strands to the planning exercise which will include examining how best to distinguish Sutton from other centres in the region while also ensuring it remains seamlessly integrated with the rest of Birmingham, and beyond.

The city council's intention is to create an attractive, thriving and sustainable community that has a range of quality shops, better leisure and cultural facilities and a more dynamic commercial and residential environment.

The regeneration project will also look at transport and conservation issues while examining matters such as the integration of public transport and the flow of traffic around the town and to the wider city beyond. It will also appraise the historical aspect of the town such as the High Street which falls within a conservation area.

The Sutton project will take place at the same time as the council's work on a blueprint for Birmingham City Centre itself. This will ensure the future development of the city's two most prominent commercial centres complement and enhance each other.

A completed study could be ready for public consultation by June.