Pictured a the front are Mayor Andy Street (left) and Ben Moore (Chancerygate), behind Ed Bradburn (Frontier Development Capital Ltd), Sean Duffy and Dan Powers (both Chancerygate)The regeneration of the former Coventry site of a leading aerospace company is gathering pace following an £8.8 million investment by the
West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). The site, off Holbrook Lane, was home to Meggitt until the company, which counts aviation giants Airbus, BAE Systems and Boeing among its customers, started moving operations and staff to new headquarters in nearby Ansty two years ago.
Now, more than five acres of the former Meggitt facility is being transformed thanks to WMCA support with the construction of the new Holbrook Business Park which is forecast to generate around 200 jobs once completed.
The investment into the business park, which is being built by developers Chancerygate, is the latest to be made by the WMCA as part of its brownfield regeneration programme. The combined authority’s ‘brownfield first’ policy is transforming hundreds of acres of former industrial sites across the region with high-quality, affordable homes and modern premises for job creating businesses.
Regeneration of brownfield landAndy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, visited the Holbrook Lane scheme to see the work underway. He said: “It is heartening to see that the former home of one of our most successful companies will once again be providing quality jobs for local people thanks to the WMCA’s cash.
“Throughout the pandemic the WMCA has continued to invest in the regeneration of brownfield land, and it is these investments that not only create new jobs and energy efficient, affordable homes for local people, but also reduce the pressure to build on our irreplaceable greenbelt.”
The Chancerygate scheme, which will feature 17 light industrial units, sits on one part of the 65-acre former Meggitt site. Planning permission was granted earlier this year for 500 new homes on another part of the site.
Despite most of its operations being moved to Ansty, Meggitt has kept a small carbon-brake facility at Holbrook Lane and the company’s sports fields are being retained as open space.
The Holbrook Lane deal follows a series of landmark funding commitments over recent months for the regeneration of derelict industrial land, often referred to as brownfield, and is part of the WMCA’s trailblazing brownfield regeneration programme.
This includes an integrated approach for urban regeneration and ensures good design is embedded within all of its projects through the WMCA design charter launched last year.
Access to funding was provided by Frontier Development Capital Ltd, a fund manager working closely with property developers to arrange investments from the WMCA’s Collective Investment Fund (CIF), Revolving Investment Fund (RIF) and Brownfield Land and Property Development Fund (BLPDF).