A Decade of Connection, A Century of Excellence: The Midland Metro Alliance
The Midland Metro Alliance (MMA) is a story of partnership, ambition and transformation, and one in which Pell Frischmann has proudly played an integral role from the very beginning.
The West Midlands has long been an important centre of commerce and industry, with the coal and iron ore deposits of the Black Country providing a ready source of raw materials during the industrial age. In 2016, the West Midlands Combined Authority was created and, since May 2017, has been headed by a directly elected Mayor, embarking upon an ambitious plan to regenerate the region. Central to this vision was the expansion of the Metro network, with plans to significantly increase the reach of the system across the West Midlands. It was against this backdrop that Pell Frischmann joined the Midland Metro Alliance at its formation in July 2016, bringing our multidisciplinary expertise to a collaborative model that unites client, designers and delivery partners.
The Midland Metro Alliance brings together the West Midlands Combined Authority, which owns the West Midlands Metro, rail construction specialists Colas Rail, and a Design Joint Venture in which Pell Frischmann is a partner within the joint venture alongside Egis and Tony Gee & Partners.
Pell Frischmann’s contribution to the Alliance has been both broad and deep, spanning transportation planning, preliminary highway and traffic design including drainage, signs and markings, traffic signal design, public transport support, bridge engineering and environmental expertise. Our people have held leadership roles across the core team, from the Alliance Management Team to design sector leads in transportation planning, transport modelling and Transport and Works Act Order coordination, and we serve as the nominated Principal Designer for the whole programme, focused on ensuring a safe operational network. Our early investment in Building Information Modelling (BIM) drove the Alliance to achieve BIM Level 2 across its projects, with our team standardising design details for elements such as lighting, ducts, catenary bases and platforms to deliver significant cost savings. Our commitment to the Alliance is also reflected at the most senior level, with Iain Bisset, our Managing Director, serving as the Alliance Leadership Team representative for the Design Joint Venture from 2019 to 2023, helping to provide strategic leadership and governance across the programme.
The scale of delivery has been considerable, with 36.6 kilometres of track delivered, 24 new tram stops installed, 55 highway junctions upgraded and 18.7 acres of urban corridor enhanced. Pell Frischmann’s engineering leadership is reflected in the innovation that runs throughout the programme. A landmark example is the first phase of the Birmingham Westside Extension, one of the first urban tramway extensions in the United Kingdom to operate entirely without overhead line equipment using battery technology.
Individual schemes tell the wider story of the programme’s ambition. The careful restoration of the Parkhead Viaduct saw a much-loved heritage structure strengthened to meet modern engineering standards while retaining its original character and materials, an achievement recognised when the Midland Metro Alliance and Pell Frischmann won Rail Bridge Project of the Year at the New Civil Engineer Bridges Awards, with the innovative retention design saving approximately 1,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. In Digbeth, the Eastside Extension has connected Bull Street through to Digbeth High Street and the forthcoming HS2 Curzon Street station, with construction works uncovering historic cobbled roads and significant archaeological findings that were professionally recorded, preserved and managed with care and respect.
On the Midlands Metro Alliance, Urban Mobility Sector Director, Himanshu Budhiraja said:
“The Midland Metro Alliance demonstrates what can be achieved when clients, designers and delivery partners work together with a shared vision and long-term commitment. Over the past decade, Pell Frischmann has been proud to play an integral role in helping to deliver a transformative programme that is improving connectivity, supporting regeneration and creating lasting benefits for communities across the West Midlands. From transport planning and highway design through to Transport and Works Act Order support, environmental services and Principal Designer duties, our multidisciplinary teams have contributed to some of the UK’s most innovative light rail projects. As we celebrate both ten years of the Alliance and Pell Frischmann’s centenary, we are proud of what has been achieved and remain committed to supporting the continued growth of the West Midlands Metro network for future generations.”
Environmental sensitivity has been equally central to our work, from coordinating ecological surveys and land contamination assessments to remedying a flood bank breach at a Site of Special Scientific Interest, where Pell Frischmann provided an integrated team service combining civil and geotechnical engineering, flood risk and ecology, and engaged stakeholders including the local Wildlife Trust, the Environment Agency and Natural England.
The programme’s impact extends far beyond the infrastructure itself. Over the past decade the Alliance has generated circa 400 million pounds in social value for the West Midlands, reached more than 20,000 students and supported over 3,000 unemployed residents, underpinned by the United Kingdom’s first Light Rail Construction Trailblazer Apprenticeship. Four million hours have been worked safely and 7,579 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent saved between 2022 and 2025, with every extension CEEQUAL certified. Industry honours have followed too, from a British Construction Industry Award for Partnership Initiative of the Year to Global Light Rail Awards for Outstanding Engineering Achievement, and the network proved pivotal to the success of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The Midland Metro Alliance stands as a defining example of what Pell Frischmann can achieve when engineering excellence, collaboration and social purpose are pursued together over the long term. Our role as a leading design partner and Principal Designer has demonstrated the values that have carried us through a hundred years: technical rigour, genuine collaboration and a commitment to leaving communities better connected than we found them. There is a particular symmetry in celebrating ten years of the Midland Metro Alliance in the same year we mark our centenary, for both anniversaries speak to the same enduring belief that infrastructure, done well, transforms lives for generations. As the journey continues with further extensions and sustained investment, Pell Frischmann remains focused on the work ahead, building the connections that will shape the West Midlands for the next hundred years and beyond.
