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Sandwell Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) have appointed Keepmoat as their preferred developer to construct the Friar Park Urban Village scheme in Wednesbury, one of the largest brownfield sites in the West Midlands.

The 67-acre Friar Park site, which is joint owned by Sandwell council and the WMCA, has been home to a waste treatment plant, a foundry and hospital in the past but has lain undeveloped for more than 40 years due to the complexity involved in making the land safe for housing.

The first phase of work on Friar Park Urban Village will be to treat the historic contamination issues to make the site ready for house-building.

A planning application for the remediation work is expected to be submitted in the coming weeks.

Cllr Peter Hughes, Sandwell Council cabinet member for regeneration and infrastructure, said: “It’s great to see another step forward in our ambitious plans to regenerate Sandwell and to be able to offer more jobs, homes, green space and infrastructure to our residents.

“This project will be genuinely collaborative between the WMCA, Keepmoat, the council and local residents. We will work hard to ensure that we deliver a site which is a real asset to the Borough and something which improves quality of life.”

West Midlands mayor Richard Parker said: “This is not an easy site to bring forward but when I met with the Environment Agency they assured me they are treating our land clean-up plans as a top priority now. That matters because thousands of families need a safe, warm home and this site can deliver 600 of them.

“The appointment of Keepmoat is a real step forward. They can now start designing a new community that will help meet our housing needs, create jobs and support the regeneration set out in my growth plan.”

Keepmoat signed a strategic agreement with the WMCA in 2023 under which Keepmoat committed to building 4,000 new homes across the West Midlands.

Keepmoat divisional chair Charlotte Goode said: “As brownfield specialists, with almost 70% of our current developments being delivered on brownfield land, the plans to breathe new life into Friar Park will champion affordability, accessibility, green space and connectivity. We have a strong relationship with the West Midlands Combined Authority and we’re immensely looking forward to continuing our work together on this flagship regeneration project with Sandwell Council.”

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