From trains to cranes: HS2 is reshaping opportunity in the West Midlands
This blog was written as part of the 2025 Birmingham Economic Review, an annual report produced by University of Birmingham/City-REDI in partnership with the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. Read the full report.
Huw Edwards, director for Stations and Placemaking at HS2 Ltd
In October, Birmingham hosted the Government’s first Regional Investment Summit. Designed to encourage domestic and international investment into communities across the UK, the event saw civic and business leaders demonstrate how the construction of HS2 is already influencing investment decisions in the region.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that global real estate investment manager, Hines, would invest up to £400 million into Birmingham Knowledge Quarter – an innovation district that promises 5,000 homes and 6 million sq. ft of commercial space focused on science and technology.
Birmingham City’s Tom Wagner described how the arrival of HS2 helped persuade Knighthead Capital Management to buy Birmingham City Football Club and later develop its ambitious £4 billion Sports Quarter project. His declaration that the future high-speed connection to London ‘turned our head’, crystalises its considerable impact on decision making.
Finally, further plans were revealed for Warwick Bar. Set within Birmingham’s creative quarter of Digbeth, plans would see the area, which already houses Stephen Knight’s Digbeth Loc. Studios, welcome another 1,700 new homes and 110,000 sq. ft of creative workspace.
It should be no surprise that all three of these opportunities border the future HS2 terminus at Birmingham Curzon Street.
The stats are compelling. Last year, specialist research found that HS2 will drive a £10 billion economic uplift in the West Midlands over the next 10 years. The figure is made up of two factors: the long-term economic contribution of people living and working in the new homes, offices, shops and other businesses; and the economic boost from jobs created during construction.
While the former dominated headlines in October, the impact of the latter shouldn’t be overlooked. Across the country, 34,000 people are now working to design and build HS2 – more than 12,500 of those in the West Midlands. The number includes 740 West Midlands residents who have secured an apprenticeship with HS2, and almost two thousand who have progressed onto jobs after a period of unemployment.
On the one hand, HS2 is building a generation of skilled workers who are finding fulfilling careers in construction and shaping up to deliver the country’s future infrastructure. On the other, high-speed rail will bring new economic opportunities to the West Midlands, while enabling people across the region to access new job markets.
HS2 is the UK’s most ambitious infrastructure project for generations and delivering it has not come without challenges. HS2 Ltd's CEO Mark Wild is currently leading the project through a comprehensive Reset to ensure it is built as efficiently as possible. This includes developing a new strategy to put the building blocks of the railway in the right order, alongside new estimates for its cost and opening schedule.
And yet, for people in the West Midlands, it is worth bearing in mind that the promise of greater connectivity is already drawing jobs, homes and new investment into a region – even before a high-speed train pulls into Curzon Street station. Despite the challenges of delivering such a large and complex infrastructure project, HS2 will continue to prove its worth.
