Sponsored by: Islamic Help


Birmingham to enjoy decade of growth


The next 10 years represent “an unparalleled period of opportunity for investment in the city and wider West Midlands region,” according to GVA. In its Evolving Cities report, The Changing Face of Birmingham,


property experts say the city’s economy is “now more resilient, providing an excellent platform for further growth and the right blend of future assets coming through the pipeline to realise it.” From Birmingham Curzon to Smithfield, New Garden Square in


Edgbaston to Icknield Port Loop, Snow Hill to Martineau Galleries, the next 10 years promise another decade of change and growth for a city previously too often derided by ill-informed critics, principally a London-centric media. But the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and their ilk may soon have to eat


Chamberlain Square: One of the visionary projects which is transforming Birmingham


their words. As GVA says in Evolving Cities: “Birmingham is unrecognisable from a decade ago and is a hugely exciting and ambitious city looking forward. “The transformation to date has greatly heightened Birmingham’s


appeal and its population has seen an increase of almost 100,000 since 2004 following two decades of decline. “Further long-term growth is expected, with an additional 150,000


expected to live in the city by 2031.” The Evolving Cities report says the arrival of High Speed 2 at Birmingham Curzon in 2026 will be “a once in a generation opportunity for the city, providing a major new connection and acting as a catalyst for investment activity and regeneration.” The report warns that infrastructure weaknesses remain in the city


and transport capacity will need to be increased significantly over the next 10 years. “Birmingham City Council’s local plan currently has a shortfall of


38,000 fewer homes than are considered to be needed by 2031. “Solutions are being sought working with local authority partners in


Brindleyplace is a shining example of mixed-use development


the region. Addressing this is key if Birmingham is to fulfil its growth potential and it will be a big challenge for both public and private stakeholders.”


‘It is only in the last few years that people have taken pride in this city. There has not only been a big physical shift, there has also been a mental shift’


and other developments, helping galvanise the entire city centre. Now, more than 20 years later, another extraordinary process of rebirth has accelerated Birmingham’s growth into an urban location of undoubted substance and style. “The two major leaps have been


the ICC and Brindleyplace in one five-year window and another five- year window with the New Street Station development and John Lewis, the extension of the Metro and the Birmingham Airport runway extension. “It is only in the last few years


that people have taken pride in this city. There has not only been a big physical shift, there has also been a mental shift. We now have bars, restaurants, theatre, the ballet.” GVA’s Evolving Cities report on


the changing race of Birmingham provides stark evidence of just how dramatically the city has reinvented itself. It says: “Private sector employment in financial and


professional services, tourism, leisure and retailing has risen rapidly over the last 20 years. “The unemployment rate in 2016


stood at 6.5 per cent, compared to rates well over 20 per cent for most of the 1980s. It’s sobering to reflect that in the late 1970s to the mid- 1980s, Birmingham’s jobless rate had been 25 per cent and in some parts of the city 50 per cent. An astonishing 200,000 jobs were lost in less than 10 years, disappearing, never to return, from a low-skills economy based on metal-bashing. History was to virtually repeat


itself – on an admittedly smaller scale - almost 20 later when tens of thousands of relatively well-paid manufacturing jobs vanished with a string of closures across the region, from MG Rover at Longbridge to LDV, train-maker Alstom, HP Sauce at Aston, Massey Ferguson and Peugeot further afield at Coventry, and many others. But the Midlands capital refused to be cowed into recession, with


Jaguar Land Rover in the vanguard of the resistance movement. Ian says: “The city had done a good job rebalancing itself with the growth of the service sector but there is no doubt that Jaguar Land Rover has almost single-handedly changed the face of the West Midlands economy, pulling it back towards engineering and manufacturing.” As the GVA Evolving Cities report


says: “Birmingham has regenerated through a strategic effort to position itself as an international destination for investment and the UK’s top regional centre for conferences and exhibitions. “The city promoted the growth of


a service-based economy to replace the jobs lost in manufacturing.” But with the likes of Curzon


Street Station powered by the HS2 scheme, the former markets site at Smithfield, New Garden Square at Edgbaston , Icknield Port Loop and other developments all part of the further growth of Birmingham, the city has much to savour in coming years. “There is a lot to look forward to.


It is going to be a very exciting time over the next decade,” says Ian.


Each volunteer also had to


experience what every charity worker in the field has to go through daily – turning away people in need. The USP of Mission Possible is that the participants, having undergone training, work to a needs criterion on which to judge potential beneficiaries. While they gain a great deal


of satisfaction from making some people happy by giving them aid, inevitably others have to be rejected. This particular element of the deployment has been life- changing for volunteers. Mission Possible is not just a


volunteering programme. It’s an investment. An investment in the future of poverty-stricken people who are being given the means to achieve livelihoods and sustainability, and an investment in young British people who are determined to make a difference to their own lives and the lives of those in need.


Applications are now open for the 2018 deployments. To find out more about Mission Possible and to read the volunteers’ blogs, go to www.islamichelp.org.uk/missi onpossible or call Zain Sultan or Kamran Uddin on 0121 446 5682.


December 2017/January 2018 CHAMBERLINK 15


Mission Possible: Changing Lives


In October, a dozen young people went on a deployment to Tanzania for the humanitarian experience of a lifetime. The group, ranging from


office workers to university students, had signed up to Islamic Help’s Mission Possible programme. Each raised £5k for the 10-day deployment, covering all their expenses plus the cost of the aid which they delivered directly to beneficiaries.


Business News


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64