Major new homes plan for former GKN Factory site next to Midland Met Hospital
An application has been submitted to build 100 flats and homes as part of plans to regenerate former factory sites around a Midlands hospital.
Sandwell Council plans to build 74 new flats and 26 homes on the abandoned former GKN Factory in Cranford Street, Smethwick, next to the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.
The new housing is the latest part of huge multi-million-pound regeneration plans around the new hospital in Grove Lane, Smethwick.
Much of the site has already been cleared with the three-storey buildings fronting Cranford Street also set to be demolished as part of the work.
The five-storey apartment blocks would mostly be built facing the canal and hospital, with two blocks and new three-storey houses fronting Cranford Street.
A statement included with the application by Sandwell Council said: “The proposal, though ambitious, provides a well-designed, simple residential environment in which its inhabitants will be able to live in harmony with all those who live there.
“The houses have been used as a means of protection against the site constraints, such as the busy main road and hospital environment.
“This has then allowed the creation of a secure, communal space which will be rich with comfortable usability and flora and fauna.
“The sites’ location creates an unrivalled location for use of public transport and walking/cycling for access to the wider Sandwell borough, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
“The bus routes, metro routes and train routes from the local stations will provide great connectivity for commuting and pleasure.
“The proposed incorporation of a large communal garden space, with species recommended by a landscape architect, will create perfect spaces for the community to develop and thrive.
“The proposal shall also include bird boxes, hedgehog houses and other proposals to enhance natural wildlife within the area.
“Therefore, it is hoped that the proposal is seen favourably as a development to enhance the site and local area.”
The borough was awarded £18m by the government in levelling up funding in 2024 which, after a range of delays and talks, can now be spent by March 2028 – two years after the original deadline. Sandwell Council will also be contributing £2m towards the work.
The huge £750m Midland Metropolitan University Hospital on the border of the Black Country and Birmingham opened in 2024 after years of delays and nine years after work began.
Up to 800 houses and flats are expected to be built around the hospital as part of the council’s regeneration plans.
Sandwell Council had already agreed to use compulsory purchase powers to buy the empty and abandoned GKN factory in Cranford Street to make way for new housing.
Early plans said the site would be used for up to 170 homes but was cut by more than a third to 100 units.
The abandoned factory, which has been empty since the 1980s, was home to a go-kart track for a month in 2005 before burning down.
It has since been used for parking and as a site office by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.
Another site in Abberley Street, which is owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), is to be used for around 200 new homes.
Plans for more than 200 flats, shops, bars and a ten-storey 1,300-space car park in London Street were rejected by Sandwell councillors in 2021.
Permission was eventually given in 2023 for 392 flats in a seven-to-fourteen-storey building but work has yet to start.
