Walsall is changing; and driving its restoration as a thriving town with a key role to play in the Black Country and West Midlands economies is the Walsall Regeneration Company (WRC).

WRC is focussed on attracting private and public sector investment for a near £1 billion programme of major transformational projects, including the £400 million Walsall Gigaport, a dynamic business quarter with a high speed, big bandwidth 'future proof' fibre optic communications platform that will support a wide range of high technology industries.

Established in March 2004 to champion and facilitate the physical regeneration of 780 hectares of Walsall, it is working with partners to deliver a Town for Enterprise with new businesses, new homes, new jobs, an improved retail offer and better opportunities for its diverse communities.

That vision is being realised. A £65 million new Walsall College is due to open to students in September 2009 with a curriculum geared to skills and enterprise. The old premises will be demolished to enable the site to be redeveloped for a Tesco superstore in 2010.

Construction of the £174 million Manor Hospital PFI development is progressing well to provide improved healthcare and act as a driver for regeneration.

Further evidence of the physical renaissance in the town centre will be seen at Walsall Waterfront when work starts this year to transform underused and derelict land as a vibrant canalside community.

The most ambitious scheme, which has already attracted international interest, is the Walsall Gigaport. Outline planning consent has been given for around 1.5 million sq ft of quality office space, business incubation units and hotel and leisure facilities. It will see the introduction of a 'next generation' technology platform that will act as a magnet for new and emerging industries focusing on a select number of key sectors that are best suited to exploit the advantages offered by fibre optics.

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