New Broadmarsh car park could include homes

Nottingham City Council has said the full-scale approval of the intu Broadmarsh shopping centre will not take place until later this year, but that it is considering homes on top of a new car park next to the mall.

Ahead of an Executive Board meeting next week, TheBusinessDesk.com has seen papers which suggest that the City Council will only give full approval for intu’s scheme (to which it is contributing a third of the design and build cost) when full tendering of the main construction contract and latest letting information is available.

The documents reads: “At this point the Conditional Development Agreement (CDA) between intu and the Council would go unconditional.

“For the avoidance of doubt, however, it is important for the Council to make clear that agreement at this stage is not agreement to the full scheme. The Council will consider the business case for the full scheme on its merits when full scheme preparation is completed later this year, and could choose not to go ahead in certain circumstances.

“To progress the full scheme to unconditionality there are also further design and development costs that need to be incurred by intu, and therefore ourselves.”

As we reported yesterday (24 May), Nottingham City Council is set to press ahead with the demolition of the Broadmarsh car park.

In the papers seen by The BusinessDesk.com, the Council reveals that any new car park could involve a residential element.

The document says: “The possibility of new homes on top of the car park is also being explored, although the financial viability of this idea is still to be confirmed.”

City Council leader councillor Jon Collins said: “There can be few people in the city that would be sorry to see the Broadmarsh car park go. There is a strong financial argument in favour of demolishing it and starting from scratch, so that we can develop a brand new facility and significantly reduce our maintenance bill.

“This would allow us to provide new retail outlets in a much more pedestrian-friendly setting, as well as the kind of modern car park and bus station facilities that people expect when visiting a city like Nottingham, in a development which will complement the new-look shopping centre.”

Meanwhile, says the Council, intu are making “significant progress” with lettings into the redeveloped Broadmarsh.