GreaterBirminghamand Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) has approved an Enterprise Zone allocation of more than £60 million to transform Paradise Circus inBirmingham, expected to create up to 12,000 jobs.

This allocation will enable the city council to borrow the £61.3 million and use additional business rate uplift income generated from the development to fund the borrowing. 

The design of the first phase is expected to begin this spring, with development work on Paradise Circus, one of the sites comprising Birmingham City Centre’s Enterprise Zone, expected to begin in autumn 2014.

The funding will enable the first two phases of infrastructure works. The whole scheme requires £83.4 million of Enterprise Zone resource allocation for the public infrastructure works, which include demolition, highways and landscaping.

Andy Street,  GBSLEP Chair, said:

“The approval of this allocation from the Enterprise Zone Investment Plan advances the funding package for the Paradise Circus redevelopment.

“The Enterprise Zone model has enabled the complex challenges this project presents to be overcome, combining the imagination and risk-taking of the private sector with just the right support from the public sector.

“We’re delighted to have agreed this – now we can start working with the developers to drive this transformational project which is a huge statement of intent for the city, the Local Enterprise Partnership and the Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone.”

Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone comprises 26 sites across the city centre covering 68 hectares in seven clusters at Westside, Snow Hill District, Eastside, Southern Gateway, Digbeth Creative Quarter, Birmingham Science Park Aston and the Jewellery Quarter.

These sites are focussed on the business and financial services, information and communication technology, creative industries and digital media sectors.

For more information on Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone see: http://centreofenterprise.com/ez/.