The clearance of the derelict M G Rover Paint Plant A and Dalmuir structures, on the Longbridge north side, will now pave the way for future employment and residential areas as part of the £1bn St Modwen regeneration scheme.

Holder Mathias Architects is designing the town centre project.

This week Persimmon Homes signed a deal with the specialist regeneration developer to build homes on the western and eastern parts of the massive 468 acres industrial site.

There will be a 4.2 acre park at the heart of the town centre

Over the next 15 years, the scheme is expected to create up to 10,000 new jobs and 2,000 new homes.

The demolition work on the 270,000 sq ft Rover building is expected to take Squib’s 30-strong workforce 20 weeks to complete because of large amounts of asbestos.

To date, 5m sq ft of redundant buildings have been cleared across the Longbridge industrial site.

St Modwen’s construction manager Mark Batchelor said: “The vision for the first phase of Longbridge town centre also includes an 85,000 sq ft food store, retail units, hotel, car parking and the four acre Austin Park,” he added.

Shepherd  Construction started on the first significant building project at the site, the £66m Bournville College at the start of the year and is on track for first intake of students in 2011.

Longbridge vision video

Detailed plan

Mike Murray, senior development surveyor for St. Modwen, said: “The project is moving from the planning phase to the delivery phase and 2010 looks set to be a key year, subject to obtaining planning consent.

“We are hopeful that getting consent for the four major planning applications submitted last year will be the next major milestone for Longbridge, moving us even closer to delivering on our aims for this landmark scheme.”