Plans for the £260 million Upper Trinity Street cultural, commercial and residential scheme in Digbeth have been given the green light.

Birmingham City Council approved the plans which were submitted by Cole Waterhouse.

The landmark 5.11 acre development will see the existing industrial land transformed into a residential scheme including a new one-acre public park called Pump House Park.

Designed by Corstorphine &Wright with sustainability at its core, UTS will include 943 new homes, some with live-work space and roof gardens, a 133-bedroom hotel, 60,000 sq ft of flexible commercial space, car parking and large new areas of public realm across a network of landscaped yards, squares and hidden spaces.

The development of UTS is expected to create 600 jobs during the construction phase, deliver £229.5m GVA to the local economy and will create up to 313 additional jobs once built. When funding is secured work is expected to start in Summer 2022 and the scheme will be developed over a number of phases with the first phases completing in 2025.


Since securing the land in 2019 Cole Waterhouse has been working closely with the local community, Birmingham City Council and neighbouring landowners to evolve its vision for Upper Trinity Street.

Cole Waterhouse CEO Damian Flood said: "Our vision for Upper Trinity Street is to create a superb new space for Digbeth which marries the area's rich industrial history and diverse culture with high quality, well designed buildings and spaces for future generations to enjoy. This is a really important moment in Digbeth’s continuing evolution and we are very proud to have been granted permission to proceed with developing UTS and helping to secure a bright future for Digbeth.

"Over the past two years we have worked closely with Birmingham City Council to continually shape our designs to make sure we deliver a new neighbourhood which recognises the needs of the local community and which protects and enhances the area so that it can once again prosper and thrive.

"As developers we take our responsibility to nurture the unique "Digbethness” of the area very seriously. The community response to our plans was overwhelmingly positive and our first local appointment was to bring in Jez Collins as the project’s local cultural lead. He has been working to ensure that our proposals would support and protect the area’s heritage and culture, something that was absolutely central to our vision for UTS and we now look forward to seeing that vision come to life."