One of the most respected faces in British property has been named as the chairman of the Curzon Urban Regeneration Company, overseeing the regeneration around Birmingham鈥檚 proposed HS2 station. Liz Peace speaks to business editor Graeme Brown about her hopes.
She鈥檚 gone from Bournville to the heart of Government 鈥 but is now back to oversee the renaissance of her home city.
Former British Property Federation (BPF) chief executive Company, charged with delivering major regeneration in the east of the city centre.
It marks a return for the former Bournville Village School pupil who worked on the production line at Cadbury before embarking on a career which took her to the heart of government.
The regeneration company, which will be formed in the months to come, is likely to have significant powers to drive change, similar to organisations set up to create the London 2012 Olympics and Canary Wharf.
It will operate for the next decade and beyond 鈥 and Ms Peace says she is in it for the long-term 鈥 with plans for huge investment to deliver 14,000 jobs and a boost of up to 拢1.3 billion to the local economy.
Ms Peace said the city can learn much from Cadbury as it carves out a bright future 鈥 by putting economic prosperity and jobs at the heart of its plans.
She said: 鈥淲hat Cadbury showed me, and what I have said to every minister I have spoken to over the past 13 years, is that regeneration isn鈥檛 about building housing estates.
鈥淢inisters get obsessed about building housing estates and meeting housing numbers. Whenever you talk to them about property, the conversation goes to housing. They are obsessed by it.
鈥淚 would say jobs are the basis of a place. Of course, Cadbury in Bournville proved that in spades.
鈥淭he thing that made Bournville a wonderful place to live was that everyone had a job.
鈥淚t was the factory that came first and then Cadbury built the housing to give their workforce somewhere to live.鈥
Ms Peace spent 12 years heading up the BPF after decades working for the Ministry for Defence.
The role made her a major industry advocate in Parliament and she was awarded the CBE in 2008 for services to the property industry.
Now, she will be charged with overseeing one of the largest city centre regeneration schemes Europe has ever seen.
It aims to ensure that the city makes the most out of multi-billion pound investment in the HS2 Curzon Street station through major improvement in and around Digbeth.
The masterplan, unveiled in 2013, showed proposals for more than six million square feet of new employment floor space and 2,000 homes.
Ms Peace her role was to ensure the area was more than just a station.
She said: 鈥淏uilding a station is one thing.
鈥淎 bit like building a football stadium, you could put it there to be used for the purpose it was intended.
鈥淏ut if you can grab that plan early enough in the process and think not just about building the station but the fact that you are building a gateway to something else, then your station will look different.
鈥淵ou will integrate what is going to be around it. So my principle objective is to make sure that we take advantage of the fact that there is going to be an HS2 windfall at Curzon Street and plan early enough to make sure we maximise the benefit of it.
鈥淚f it is just a station we will miss out on so much else.鈥
While the urban regeneration company has yet to be formed, the first shadow board meeting was held with the likes of city council leader Sir Albert Bore and local enterprise chair Andy Street last week.
The council and the LEP are likely to be joined by HS2, the Government and other partners on the board.
Creating the regeneration company signalled a bold approach to ensure regeneration with a preparedness to hand powers to the private sector.
But Ms Peace said it all starts with finance 鈥 capital is key.
And as there is no property company with enough capital on the balance sheet to do this alone, there is going to be no shortage of conversations to be had.
She said: 鈥淲hat you have got to find is somebody prepared to put the money in 鈥 who might or might not be property-related.
鈥淚t might simply be someone with money to invest, who sees the development of an area as a long-term opportunity
鈥淚f you look at London, more than half of London is now owned by overseas investors.
鈥淭he trick is to persuade the overseas investors 鈥 maybe sovereign wealth funds or wealthy families 鈥 that actually there are good returns outside of London.
鈥淪ome get it 鈥 the Chinese investment in Manchester Airport is a case in point 鈥 they are starting to look outside London.鈥
She added: 鈥淚 suspect because it is a very large area, the fundraising will carry on for 20 years because you will probably have to do it in bite-sized chunks.
鈥淎fter the recession, the property industry has tended to be more cautious about massive projects. It tends to want to do things in smaller pieces. When we were looking at the Thames Gateway in London, the message I was getting from developers was to carve it up into bite-sized chunks.
鈥淚 think that is probably what we will do, so investment would carry on being an issue.
鈥淭hat would also allow you to build confidence as you show what could actually be done and start to drive some new income.鈥
While the new role represents a return for Ms Peace, Digbeth is hardly a home from home for her. Indeed, she had never been there before accepting the role.
But she believes its potential is clear.
鈥淚n some ways it is quite a separate part of the city centre,鈥 she said.
鈥淚 was born and brought up in Birmingham. I feel like there are some parts of Birmingham I know like the back of my hand.
鈥淏ut I had never been to Digbeth. The closest I got to Digbeth was the coach station.
鈥淚 went round there the other week and I came back thinking 鈥榳hat an eye-opener鈥, to think I had been a Brummie without going round there at all. I am sure I am going to offend someone saying this, but when I was young, nice girls didn鈥檛 go to Digbeth. My mother wouldn鈥檛 have allowed it.
鈥淏ut we are actually quite fortunate. It is very close and connected but relatively separate, which gives you a chance to be creative with the space.鈥
Ms Peace believes connecting with pedestrians is a key part of the challenge.
While Digbeth is a matter of a few minutes walk from the city centre, nowhere near enough people are doing so. She said the masterplan offers new possibilities, but is also sufficiently flexible to allow for a changing city centre.
She said: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 draw up a masterplan to stick to it 鈥 it is not a rigid thing like that.
鈥淵ou draw up a masterplan to inspire an overall vision and then you modify as you go along. That is the beauty of that.
鈥淥f course you change things as behaviour changes.
鈥淗opefully, you will be able to about with great ease.鈥
While the city will be hoping for progress long beforehand, with HS2 really kicking in around 2026, the regeneration company鈥檚 role is a long-term one. Ms Peace said she hopes to be in the role for long enough to make a significant impact.
鈥淚t is a long-term play,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hether I will be here in 2026 I don鈥檛 know but I would hope to be here long enough to make sure it is well on the way to being a success.
鈥淲hen Sir Albert and Waheed Nazir [council director of Regeneration] originally raised it I think they thought I might be initially reluctant, so they set Andy Street [LEP chairman] on me, who is also a Brummie and a very persuasive chap.
鈥淟ittle did they know, I didn鈥檛 actually need any persuading. But he said 鈥榳e are both Brummies, we need to put something back into the place that made you鈥.
鈥淚 think that is a great philosophy. Although I had already decided I was going to do it by that point.鈥
She added: 鈥淢y advantage is I have been both a public servant and a private sector servant.
鈥淚 have spent 13 years talking to Government and local government for the private sector, so I am now neatly positioned between the two.
鈥淚n theory, I ought to be suitably qualified to do what is necessary.鈥
So, after starting out in a Birmingham chocolate factory, Ms Peace is hoping her new role will have an equally sweet return.
