High-speed rail halts £30m expansion
Savills planning director Paul Rouse has revealed to Insider the true extent of the damage caused to Birmingham City University’s planned expansion after it was cut off due to the Midlands' high speed rail (HS2) plans.
Rouse, who was in charge of the planning application for the university, said the institution had been granted planning commission and paid for a design and architectural team to begin work on the £30m development, only to be told the high-speed railway would be built through the centre.
The university had planned to expand to the site of the former Curzon Street Station at Eastside.
Rouse said: “Everything was ready to go – and then two weeks before work started, we were told that the site was in the middle of the railway line. The university, and another of our clients, Quintain, will only get back the market value of the sites, rather than the return on the schemes they were investing in.”
Savills’ other client which was caught up in the high-speed development, Quintain, is a London-based property company which comprises fund management, investment and regeneration. Rouse said it had also spent “into double figures of millions” on its development.
“Both companies were told they’d be compensated, but we don’t know how or when," said Rouse. “When you’re financing huge developments like these, it’s expensive when you’re not seeing any return.”
