Public sector investment in Wolverhampton is kick-starting an economic transformation in the city and restoring vitality to the whole of the Black Country. Advantage West Midlands, a regional agency that develops economic prosperity in the region, will deliver around £8m of investment to regeneration projects in Wolverhampton over the next three years through its partnership with the Future Foundations Regeneration Zone.

But that figure is a catalyst for an estimated £145m of investment from UK public sector sources and Europe, making the city a regional beacon of excellence where regeneration in action is bringing benefits of wealth and improved surroundings to all its people.

With an estimated cost of £60m, Bilston Urban Village is the largest proposed mixed-use development opportunity in Wolverhampton. The agency, in partnership with Wolverhampton City Council, plans to turn the 95-acre derelict site into a high quality urban village of streets and buildings.

There will be around 1,300 houses built, along with leisure, local retail and community facilities, warehouses and offices, and a neighbourhood landscaped park. The site currently has outline planning consent but will require substantial land reclamation, ground improvement and stabilisation work.

St John’s Urban Village is a major development in the heart of Wolverhampton where the emphasis is on creating a sustainable, high quality sector of the city where people want to live, work and spend their leisure time. Managed by a public-private sector partnership involving the city council, Advantage West Midlands and private sector businesses, the scheme is designed to encourage people to come back and live in the city.

The Market Square is at the heart of the village, a flagship mixed-use development of 64 apartments and a shopping arcade.
The Learning Quarter is an £8m city centre development in partnership with Future Foundations, City of Wolverhampton College, Wolverhampton City Council, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the Government Office of the West Midlands (GOWM).

Creating a state-of-the-art campus for Wolverhampton College, a three-phase project has seen the provision of additional space and refurbishment of the present education building, development of a city centre access point for post-16 learning and provision of a new ICT suite, and supported accommodation for under 25s. Courses on offer include catering, hair and beauty, travel and tourism.

Advantage West Midlands has played a leading role in the development of the Wolverhampton Science Park. The third phase, costing around £6m, is a Creative Industries Centre expected to create around 350 new jobs. The science park is a key part of the Wolverhampton Telford Technology Corridor established by Advantage West Midlands to accelerate the modernisation and diversification of the region’s economy, stimulate new enterprise, and attract new investment.

With a focus on developing high-technology business expertise in fields such as e-commerce and e-learning, and changing attitudes to entrepreneurship, major ICT-based businesses located in the corridor include IBM, Fujitsu, Sun and PTC. Improved transport links are another priority – and Future Foundations is contributing around £2m towards the Wolverhampton Interchange – a reconfiguration of Wolverhampton’s main railway station and the city centre bus terminal.

Every city needs its iconic buildings that pay tribute to its historic past. Advantage West Midlands has provided £1.5m towards the purchase and restoration of the landmark Molineux Hotel. The agency has also contributed to the £1.5m Bilston Townscape Heritage Initiative, which is restoring a collection of town centre buildings to their former glory.

A consortium campaign is under way to promote Cosford as a base for an £18bn defence-training contract. The Ministry of Defence is currently undertaking a Defence Training Review that will see £18bn of training provision being outsourced to the private sector by 2008. Two private sector consortia are bidding for the contract – MC3 Training and METrIX. Cosford is already home to the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering.

A successful bid for a training centre at Cosford would bring massive benefits of job creation and inward investment, placing Wolverhampton firmly on the map of successful city regeneration.