Multi-million pound Smethwick regeneration to start early

Work on the rundown area off Rolfe Street is now set to begin in January, while it was first thought the £3.5 million development would start in the spring.

Tenders are now being requested from construction firms to take on the work, which would see shop units opened and made available to local businesses, as well as a new construction and training college and a canal-side marketplace.

See also: Smethwick community centre could be leaf out of Birmingham library's book.

Initial work will include the remodelling of a derelict warehouse to provide the new training centre, and the refurbishment of a business enterprise centre to include a cafe area and market square.

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Councillor Preet Gill, a ward member for St Paul's into which part of this development falls,

believes it will be similar to Birmingham's Custard Factory in Digbeth – a regeneration project which turned a former industrial site into a home for independent retailers, digital and creative businesses, and events.

Councillor Gill said: "It is regeneration – something which hasn't really happened in that area for quite a time.

"It will create a shop front with units available for local businesses and enterprises, to create a kind of Custard Factory-feel. It's quite exciting, and I think it will appeal to both young people and the older generation."

See also: Building work starts on Smethwick centre's £780k revamp.

Councillor Gill has been involved with consulting residents, and says responses to the scheme have been positive.

She added: "I think it's going to be a really great development, and we feel that it would really bring the whole area up."

How would you like to see Smethwick improved? Leave your comments below.

Work to the site will also include three more footbridges, to help link the canals in the area and make the development more accessible.

Councillor Ian Jones, chief of jobs and the economy at Sandwell Council, said:

"We want to create a training and development centre along with some of our partners, so we have a place that can train youngsters as well as those who need retraining."

The work is expected to be completed by September next year, and

is aimed at reversing a 30-year decline in the area.