Plans for Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village approved

Credit: Birmingham 2022

The planning application for Birmingham's Athletes’ Village has been approved.

The 24-hectare site, which is close to the Perry Barr greyhound stadium and the One Stop Shopping Centre, will house around 6,500 athletes in around 1,000 homes.

The site is the current location of the old University of Central England (UCE) and Birmingham City University (BCU) campus.

The village will be made up of a mix of one and two-bed apartments as well as three and four-bed town houses.

Developers plan to build a further 2,000 properties in the village once the games come to an end.

After the Games, the properties will be converted to provide around 1,400 new homes across a range of tenures – social and affordable rent, homes for sale, and for private rent – creating a new high-quality residential neighbourhood for Perry Barr.

Work is set to begin on site in early 2019, to ensure completion in time for the arrival of representatives from the Commonwealth’s 71 nations and territories in the summer of 2022.

The village will be built near the current Perry Barr greyhound stadium Credit: Birmingham 2022

Cllr Sharon Thompson, Cabinet Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, added: “Through this scheme we will provide people from across the Commonwealth sports movement a first-class home away from home when they come here for Birmingham 2022.

“But longer-term and even more importantly, the Athletes’ Village will provide a place for 1,400 families to call home, part of a community that will be able to look back with pride at why and how their homes came to be built and look forward to living their lives in an improved Perry Barr.”

Waheed Nazir, Corporate Director for Economy at Birmingham City Council, said: “The fact that we have secured a planning consent for such a scheme within 12 months of being awarded the Games demonstrates the ability of the public sector to drive forward major projects at pace.

"We have used our experience as one of the city’s housing developers to drive the project forward and I look forward to seeing construction start in the New Year.”

Future phases of the Perry Barr regeneration plan will be consulted on in 2019.