Case Study – Coventry City

Council

Adam Hunt, Senior

Development Executive,

Coventry City Council

2

Transforming Coventry City

Centre

Key Cities Conference

29 January 2019

Case Study – The City Council Leading Change

• Context

• Challenges

• Enabling change: public realm, funding, leadership and risk

• Securing City Centre regeneration: outcomes and learning

• Fast growing - Coventry population (2017): 360,100; Workforce (2017): 240,300

• 71,000 people commute to Coventry for work every day; 32,000 commute from Coventry; 54,000 students

• City Centre: Retail and student housing dominated; Spatial constraints; Development viability; Delivery of City Centre South

• The Council’s strategy to secure change…

Coventry – Context and Challenges

Delivering change

1. Transforming public spaces

2. Investment and working in partnership to secure funding

3. Being flexible, showing leadership, understanding risk, going for it…

1. Transforming public spaces

• Public realm programmes: £57m invested since 2011, further £10m+ by 2021

• Demolition: Coventry Point and Nationwide

• Resulted in significant private sector investment in public realm schemes and commercial developments

Before…

After…

2. Securing funding, delivering investment

• Strategic partnerships: £150m WMCA funding to support Friargate and City Centre South; LEP investment in public realm and business growth; secured City of Culture 2021 and European City of Sport 2019

• Sustained investment in events and visitor economy

• The Wave: using revenue savings to fund regionally significant leisure facility

Godiva Festival

3. Flexibility, Leadership, Risk, Reward…

• Using the Council’s land assets to bring forward regeneration benefits

• City Centre South: commitment to partnership, resources & delivery; evolution of the scheme

Outcomes, learning, next steps

Successes

• Perception of Coventry changing

• Footfall increased by 8% at Christmas

• More sustainable mix of developments

Challenges

• Viability of a genuine mix of city centre uses

• Ensuring visitor economy complements city centre living

• Ensuring ‘meanwhile’ is prominent during development and City of Culture

Thank you

and questions

Contact details:

Adam Hunt

Senior Development Executive

Email: adam.hunt@coventry.gov.uk

Tel: 07525 234968

www.coventry.gov.uk