The Commonwealth Games: a big win for Brum residents

COMMENT: If I am asked what it is that I do each day, the simplest answer I can give is that my job is to make Birmingham a great city, writes Waheed Nazir, director of planning and regeneration at Birmingham City Council That means much of my working life has and continues to be spent answering the question “What makes a great place to live?” In some ways the answer is obvious: good jobs, decent homes, reliable infrastructure, good-quality public realm and efficient transport links. All those things are important, but they are only part of the equation to creating successful places and delivering lasting impact. What really makes a great place is intangible: community pride, local identity, social cohesion culture and heritage. These ingredients are hard to measure. Ultimately, however, they are what really give a city its dynamism. Those softer ingredients are essential to ensure a great quality of life for local residents, but are often undervalued or missed in major redevelopments and infrastructure investment schemes. [caption id="attachment_906579" align="aligncenter" width="847"] The Games will bring a myriad of benefits to the city[/caption] The bid When the opportunity arose to bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, we were clear that becoming a host city would serve as a major milestone by which to chart Birmingham’s fortunes. It would provide us with a unique platform to promote and enhance those intangible aspects that make great places and lasting legacies.      When drafting our bid, we were in no doubt that in order to grasp the chance and realise the potential we would have to focus as much or even more on the softer aspects of place as the physical manifestation of investment. Our bid had to be planned in such a way that ensured Birmingham became a better place to live as a result of hosting the Games. The first and easiest question to address in the bid was how the Games could help us deliver the tangible developments the city needs with the undoubted positive physical legacy from new infrastructure and improved facilities. The impact Birmingham 2022 is expected to generate more than 22,000 jobs during the construction and planning stages alone. We will be hosting a business expo alongside the Games to showcase the city’s potential and foster long-term commercial relationships with both international investors and local businesses. With HS2 set to begin running shortly afterwards in 2026, Birmingham’s positive reputation among employers as a place to invest and create jobs is set to grow and grow. And as business confidence in the city increases, so local people will benefit from having more and better employment prospects, driving a virtuous circle of increasing economic dynamism. The Games will also accelerate local housing delivery. The development of the athletes’ village will deliver 1,500 extra new homes for local people before the Games even begin, on top of the 2,000 that will be released once the athletes have gone home. There will also be the investment in public transport, which will better connect the venues and also serve the local communities once the Games are over. Yet when planning our bid, we felt that the greatest long-term value would come when judged against those softer criteria that really make a city a great place to live. The West Midlands is home to residents of 187 different nationalities. 314,000 local people were born in a Commonwealth country. The events and community programmes linked to the Games are designed to bring these groups together, fostering local community pride. Rather than build lots of new venues, the Games will highlight some of the fantastic spaces we already have. National teams will be hosted by our universities and train at their world-leading facilities. Competition venues include the historic Villa Park, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham Symphony Hall – the finest acoustic concert hall in the UK – and the National Exhibition Centre. [caption id="attachment_906572" align="aligncenter" width="847"] The Alexander Stadium[/caption] All were chosen to foster awareness of both our history and the city’s current burgeoning cultural scene. The fact that nearby Coventry has been named UK City of Culture 2021 will only add to the impact of the Games. City pride Birmingham 2022 will be a fantastic opportunity to build local civic pride. We aim to showcase Birmingham’s history;  the quality of life it offers as a city; the eclectic food scene; the diverse range of festivals and events; and the great buildings and public spaces. The Games will also highlight the city’s exciting future as a centre for innovation, driven by locally-based global leaders in technology such as Jaguar Land Rover and internationally recognised universities. Crucially, hosting the event will allow local people to demonstrate all this to an international audience, building the city’s profile and identity on the world stage. The story of Birmingham’s progress is now well known around the UK: the Games will offer a unique opportunity to tell our story to the world and create a renewed pride in a city that has so much to offer. While there will most certainly be tangible community benefits from new and enhanced infrastructure, the more lasting and incalculable impacts will be the talent inspired, memories created, skills developed and communities and individuals brought together under one common purpose: to leave the city “richer” than it was before.