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Contact | Oct 10 Region in focus

Region in focus: West

Midlands REGENERATION

Birmingham Gateway: transforming New Street Station

The New Birmingham New Street will include a light-filled atrium

West Midlands Major projects under way Birmingham County Council’s new £40m offices at Birmingham Science Park, Thomas Vale are at external cladding stage Phase 1 of Aston Student Village’s

new residences project has been successfully completed by Carillion. The project provides just over 1,300 en-suite bedrooms. Miller Construction has been

appointed to build a £30m Science and Technology Centre at Staffordshire University’s Stoke-on-Trent campus. Work is scheduled to start immediately and the planned opening date is autumn 2012.

Projects in the pipeline Birmingham City University’s new Campus at PQQ stage. Telford & Wrekin Council — new

offices, at PQQ £350m waste to energy plant

— a 25-year PFI project between Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Sandwell and Walsall and Veolia Environmental Services. The plant, scheduled to be in operation by autumn 2013, will heat water into steam which will be used to generate enough power for more than 32,000 homes.

Number employed in construction in the region: 173,110

Economic forecast: Total construction output is expected to increase at an annual average rate of 1.5% between 2010 and 2014. New work is forecast to have a higher rate of growth when compared to repair and maintenance at 2% and 0.8%, respectively. Public non- housing and commercial are predicted to decline, while private housing and infrastructure are expected to be the best performing.

The Birmingham Gateway project aims to transform New Street station from a dark, outdated station into a 21st century transport hub better equipped to service the 140,000 passengers that use it every day. Backed by Network Rail, Birmingham City

Council, Advantage West Midlands, Centro and the Department for Transport, the project will revitalise the heart of the city and help regenerate the area surrounding the station. It will deliver: a concourse three-and-a-half times bigger than the current one; a giant, light-filled atrium; more accessible, brighter and clearer platforms –accessed by new escalators; new public lifts; a new station exterior; eight pedestrian entrances including a 24/7 pedestrian route, providing better links across the city and to and through the station. It will also help to regenerate the area surrounding the station through the creation of a development opportunity on the south side. The new station is one of the biggest projects in

Birmingham for a generation and the work has been planned in two phases to minimise disruption and keep the station open during construction. Phase 1 construction started in April 2010

with the main focus of work on the first platform refurbishment and the construction of a new station concourse in a car park next to the station. To create the huge space that will form the new

concourse, the project team has been using cutting- edge engineering techniques to carefully remove an

Pedestrianisation at the new station

entire floor of the old car park that comprises more than 7,500 tonnes of concrete. Diamond-tipped saws and drills have been used to cut out secondary beams weighing up to 10 tonnes while Brokk machines are used to cut out smaller pieces of concrete. The concrete removal is expected to be completed

towards the end of the year after which the process to transform the space into a new station concourse will begin. The concourse will open for business at the completion of Phase 1 in 2012 with Phase 2 aiming for completion in 2015.

For more information on the Birmingham Gateway visit www.newstreetnewstart.co.uk