The response to Cole Waterhouse’s plans for Upper Trinity Street, Digbeth has been overwhelmingly positive following a public event to showcase the scheme. The team is now actively seeking further views from the community on its proposals.
Working with its locally-based project, planning and cultural teams, Cole Waterhouse revealed its vision to the community at an exhibition last week which was held at The Engine Room in Digbeth.
Commenting on the feedback from the public Damian Flood, CEO of Cole Waterhouse said: “We’re taking a deliberately different approach to this development in Digbeth so it’s is imperative that our future plans for Upper Trinity Street are shaped by the local community. We had a fantastic response on the day to our proposals and to how the exhibition was curated and we now want to encourage those who couldn’t make it down to The Engine Room to get involved and give us their feedback at utsdigbeth.co.uk.”
Jez Collins, the project’s local cultural lead, has been appointed by the team to ensure the plans support and nurture the area’s heritage and culture. He added: “Cole Waterhouse is creating a new neighbourhood right in the heart of Digbeth and neighbourhoods need communities, culture and connectivity to thrive and prosper. We’ve worked really hard to involve the local community as much as we possibly can and have set out from the very beginning to ensure our consultation programme is deep, wide and purposeful. As an example of this we held a focus group of young people, led by Beatfreeks, to ensure the Upper Trinity scheme responds to young people‘s aspirations for Digbeth.”
The feedback received so far has been overwhelmingly positive, with 86% of respondents stating that the exhibition was very informative and 100% of comments received made positive remarks. One comment stated, “the plans are varied and diverse, retaining Digbeth’s feeling with community initiatives.”
With creative, cultural and commercial spaces at ground level, new urban housing at heights of up to 31 storeys, a new public park with public art and a network of yards and squares Upper Trinity Street will become a neighbourhood in itself, connecting the existing canal network and proposed Skypark on Duddeston Viaduct to the rest of Digbeth.
The event allowed members of the public and stakeholders to view this ambition to extend the creative quarter of Digbeth and discuss this with the project team.
Cole Waterhouse is aiming to submit a planning application to Birmingham City Council in Spring 2020.
People who were unable to attend the exhibition are encouraged to view the plans and provide their feedback online at utsdigbeth.co.uk. Feedback is requested by the end of the month to enable the project team to fully consider people’s views as they finalise the plans.
Anyone wanting to find out more or discuss the plans can call the Freephone project information line on 0800 298 7040.