Black Country construction firms are being urged to seize the opportunities of a £19bn regeneration pipeline on their doorstep. The call came from the Black Country Chamber of Commerce as it launched a new forum aimed at supporting the sector and the supply chain in the region. Constructing the Black Country, hosted by the University of Wolverhampton and the Chamber, brought together more than 70 businesses to hear about development opportunities including Wolverhampton’s £27m Green Innovation Corridor. The corridor is among the schemes promoted by the West Midlands Combined Authority as part of a £19bn pipeline, which also includes West Bromwich town centre and the wider Black Country Growth Corridor.
Sean Jackson, head of membership at the Chamber, told delegates: “Construction is fundamental to the economic future of the Black Country. But the real value of construction isn’t just the buildings we put up, it’s what those buildings and infrastructure unlock.
“We need local businesses winning the contracts and local people gaining the skills. We need our manufacturers, engineers, consultants and supply chain businesses developing the products and services that the next generation of projects will need.
“We want to make sure Black Country businesses are at the forefront of these opportunities.”
The event was hosted in partnership with the University of Wolverhampton at the National Brownfield Institute and heard about the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension as well as schemes across Wolverhampton and Walsall.
Sean added: “These aren’t just construction projects, they are economic growth projects. We need to be ambitious enough to say that the Black Country shouldn’t just be somewhere that gets developed, it should be somewhere that creates the development.”
Constructing the Black Country’s first event focused on greener supply chains, with decarbonisation, retrofit, sustainable materials and energy efficiency transforming the sector. Dr Paul Hampton, from the University of Wolverhampton, gave an overview of the green supply chain. Paul Woodcock from City of Wolverhampton Council and Julian Moore, programme manager for the Green Innovation Corridor at the University of Wolverhampton, gave an update on the corridor. The corridor runs from the city centre to the i54 business park. It is backed by £20m from the Local Regeneration Fund, with a further £7m of West Midlands Investment Zone funding to bring forward four brownfield sites at Six Mile Green. A master developer is also being brought on board to take sites into delivery.
The event closed with a panel discussion featuring Luke Pardoe of Turner & Townsend, project manager on the corridor’s Six Mile Green site, Kevin Kent of Mercia Green Solutions and John McKeon of Dudley College of Technology. The panel discussed practical steps firms can take, from cutting energy costs and building green skills to controlling costs early so that green innovation is commercially viable.
The next event takes place on Thursday 26 November at the National Brownfield Institute and will cover topics from green innovation to AI and robotics.
