St Modwen cracks on with Austin Park at Longbridge
DEVELOPER St Modwen has started work on the £2m Austin Park at Longbridge in Birmingham that will feature a 255 metre stretch of the River Rea which has been buried for nearly 100 years.
Named after Lord Austin of Longbridge, who founded the Austin Motor Company at Longbridge in 1905, it is the first public park to be built in south west Birmingham in the last five decades and will be a similar size to St Philips Square in Birmingham city centre.
Austin Park is set to be the hub of the Longbridge community boasting high quality open space, footpaths, dramatic views and public art reflecting the site’s automotive history. When complete in 2013 it will feature more than 20,000 plants, 550 trees and scores of seating areas in addition to a pedestrian footbridge over the river.
Mike Murray, senior development surveyor at St Modwen, said: “Austin Park will be the centrepiece of Longbridge, providing a pleasant and inspiring place for residents, workers and visitors delivering lasting benefits that will help transform the former Longbridge site into a sustainable urban community. We are particularly pleased to be able to reflect the area’s history and culture.”
Currently under construction, the £70m Longbridge town centre will feature a Sainsbury’s store as well as a 75 bedroom Premier Inn and Beefeater Grill, cafés and restaurants and two new office buildings, called Park Point and Seven House.
Next year’s opening of Longbridge town centre will bring investment at the former MG Rover site up to £250m since it was acquired by Birmingham-based St Modwen in 2003.
