Fellow's Profile
Fellow's Profile
From Bricks to Jobs: Embedding Social Value Frameworks in Urban Regeneration
Embedding employment and skills into regeneration to create lasting economic mobility.
2026
West Midlands
I am a strategic adviser specialising in housing, regeneration, employment and social value, with almost 30 years' experience across the public, private and community sectors. I recently served as Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council and Deputy Mayor of the West Midlands. My route into this work began long before that, as a resident on an estate going through regeneration, where I saw what investment in a place can and cannot do for the people who live there.
My Fellowship, From Bricks to Livelihoods, will explore how cities in Canada, Austria and Spain build employment, skills and economic opportunity into their regeneration programmes. We are good at funding buildings and infrastructure. We are far less consistent at making sure local people share in the benefits. I want to understand how other cities close that gap.
I am driven by a simple belief: regeneration should change lives, not just landscapes. I hope to identify practical approaches that connect investment, delivery and long-term opportunity, helping policymakers, developers, housing providers and local leaders ensure regeneration creates livelihoods as well as places.
Sharon Thompson (CF 2026) was awarded two honorary doctorates, receiving a Doctor of Business Administration from Aston University and Doctor of the University from Birmingham City University.
By Sharon Thompson, 29 July 2026
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
Sharon Thompson (CF 2026) was awarded two honorary doctorates, receiving a Doctor of Business Administration from Aston University and Doctor of the University from Birmingham City University.
By Sharon Thompson, 29 July 2026
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
