This week, I had the pleasure of visiting the Perry Barr Residential Scheme as we celebrated the completion of the first 968 of the homes on the site. These homes will soon be on the market, with the first residents expected to move in by the end of the year.

Despite it being only eight months since the Commonwealth Games lit up our city, we are delivering the legacy of the Games. We have been confirmed as the host city for the 2026 European Athletics Championships, we have got exciting plans coming for the Cultural Festival this summer, and we are now delivering the homes that our growing city needs.

These homes, which together form a beautiful new community with lots of green space and mature trees, will provide people from Perry Barr and beyond with the opportunity to purchase or rent a property and contribute to a thriving neighbourhood.

The building project has created more than 650 new jobs, including almost 100 apprenticeships, with more than 1,350 people being upskilled on the site. Over the course of the £326 million contract, £267 million has been spent by the contractor Lendlease with local businesses, and workers have devoted 2,679 hours to volunteering in the local area. This included working with Eden Boys' School and Welford Primary School to build and maintain outdoor learning areas, as well as collecting for local food banks.

Overall, more than £700 million is set to be invested in Perry Barr, delivering improved leisure and community facilities, better transport infrastructure, and of course much needed homes. This is the core of the legacy from the Commonwealth Games, underpinned by the Perry Barr 2040 Masterplan which sets out how this once-neglected neighbourhood will become a thriving and well-connected neighbourhood.

As a council we are equally ambitious for neighbourhoods across the city, and wherever you look across Birmingham you will see money being invested in new homes and better transport infrastructure. Together, this will help us to take advantage of the Golden Decade of opportunity ahead of us, reduce the inequalities that continue to hold too many lives back, and make our city cleaner, safer and better for everyone.

This blog was posted on 14 April 2023.