Work continues to progress on Coventry’s £450 million City Centre South regeneration, with construction now under way on the first phase of new homes at the heart of the scheme.
City Centre South is a redevelopment of roughly 15 acres of the city centre, covering Bull Yard, Shelton Square, City Arcade, Market Way and Hertford Street.
It is being delivered by housebuilder Hill Group in partnership with Shearer Property Group, with Coventry City Council as a scheme partner. The project received outline planning consent in January 2022 and will eventually deliver up to 1,575 new homes across two phases — 991 in phase one, including 200 affordable units, with further homes to follow in phase two — alongside new commercial space, shops, leisure facilities and public realm improvements.
Council leaders have described the area as tired and run-down, and the scheme is intended to replace it with a more pedestrian-friendly residential and leisure quarter anchored around Coventry’s historic covered market.
Coventry City Council secured a £98.8 million grant from the West Midlands Combined Authority to help fund the scheme.
Progress so far
Site work began in June 2025, and demolition has since cleared much of the footprint, including the former Argos store, City Arcade, Shelton Square, Bull Yard and the Barracks car park. Project director Stuart Bale has described the demolition phase as challenging but largely complete.
Cllr Jim O’Boyle, the council’s Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change, said in March that work on the project was “really charging on,” adding that rubble from the demolition was being fully recycled rather than sent to landfill.
By June 2026, construction of the first phase of homes was confirmed to be under way, with property specialist Milligan appointed that month to help shape the scheme’s commercial offer alongside Hill and the council. The wider scheme, sometimes described as Coventry’s biggest redevelopment since the Second World War, is expected to continue in phases over several years.
Reaction
Andy Hill OBE, Group Chief Executive of the Hill Group, has previously called the project a significant milestone in transforming the city centre. Guy Shearer of Shearer Property Group has said the scheme will bring a lively new quarter to the heart of Coventry.
Former West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, who chaired the West Midlands Combined Authority when the funding for the scheme was secured, visited the site this week and shared photos on X, writing:
“Great to see diggers in the ground for Coventry City Centre South. This is a huge regeneration project, backed with major funding during my time as Mayor, & it will transform the heart of Cov.”
