Real Levelling Up Starts With L&G's £4B West Midlands Investment
The West Midlands is taking regeneration partnerships to the next level with a groundbreaking deal.
Legal & General has signed up for a £4B investment package with the West Midlands Combined Authority.
The move — the first of its kind in the UK — could open up a new pathway for investors as politicians deploy private capital to meet levelling-up commitments.
L&G said it “fully expects this to be an exemplar of what can be achieved with the right mix of devolution and determination”.
The first fruits of the deal signed by West Midlands Metro Mayor Andy Street and Legal & General chief executive Sir Nigel Wilson will be a Black Country housing project.
The agreement is based on a seven-year programme of L&G investment, building on the West Midlands’ 2022 Investment Prospectus, with brownfield land and a series of growth corridors around the region and affordable housing high on the list of priorities.
The move builds on earlier but smaller-scale mayoral deals with Lovell and St Modwen.
L&G is already heavily invested in the region, on its own account and as partners in the Bruntwood SciTech venture that is behind the £200M Birmingham Health Innovation Campus.
Holdings include the 242K SF 3 Arena Central development, the Midlands regional hub for HM Revenue & Customs and two build-to-rent schemes delivering 600 new homes.
The agreement will support the region’s target to deliver 215,000 new homes by 2031, as set out in its groundbreaking housing deal with government in 2018, and the WMCA’s drive for wider inclusive growth.
The first scheme for the partnership will be The Junction, a brownfield site in Oldbury that has lain empty for over 20 years. The site will be brought back into economic use through the investment of L&G. The development will deliver 234 energy-efficient new homes, of which nearly 50% will be for affordable housing under the WMCA’s local definition.
