Developer Muse has appointed architect, urban designer and landscape architect Studio Egret West to lead on the creation of a new masterplan for the £3.2bn Arden Cross regeneration in the West Midlands.
The new neighbourhood is intended to maximise the opportunity of the HS2 interchange station at Arden Cross in Solihull and is being enabled by the West Midlands Combined Authority, with £57m committed so far to the wider infrastructure.
The new community could have up to 3,000 homes and 6m sq ft of commercial space, alongside vital infrastructure and public spaces. The masterplan will include proposals for a medical and technology campus after landowning partnership Arden Cross Ltd agreed memorandums of understanding last September with the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust to investigate the potential for such a scheme as part of the revised masterplan. Arden Cross selected Muse as development partner for the 346-acre regeneration last November.
Both Muse and Studio Egret West will now work with wider partners and stakeholders including HS2, the Department for Transport, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and the Urban Growth Company.
Studio Egret West’s track record includes leading on the design for the regeneration of Digbeth in Birmingham, Mayfield in Manchester and New Bermondsey in London.
Maggie Grogan, development director at Muse, said: “It is a sign of our shared ambition that we are moving swiftly and wasting no time in creating the ingredients to bring forward a new sustainable destination for the region.”
David West, founding director of Studio Egret West, said: “Arden Cross is a top 10 UK regeneration opportunity, and incredibly complex given the major infrastructure at its heart.
“The opportunity to craft a multi-layered environment that blends the city with the countryside is what makes the project so exciting. We hope to interweave a place-activating programme with nature-based systems.”
To send feedback, e-mail julia.cahill@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGJuliaC or @EGPropertyNews
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