Miller Birch in talks with potential Guildhall occupiers

The firm chosen by Nottingham City Council to redevelop the 410,000 sq ft Guildhall site in Nottingham says it is already in talks with a hotel operator and a string of retailers about moving in to the finished scheme.

On Monday evening we revealed that Nottingham City Council is set to choose developer Miller Birch to transform one of the most significant sites in the city centre.

Mark Bielby, development director at Miller Birch was spoke to TheBusinessDesk.com from MIPIM, the commercial property show in Cannes. He revealed that the new scheme will include and extend the Trent University-owned Nottingham Conference Centre, and could include sone speculatively-built office space.

Mark Bielby

He said: “We’re working closely with Nottingham Trent University to extend the conferencing facilities they already have into the Guildhall site, and we’ve been in talks with hotel operators. I think Nottingham lacks a real quality four-star hotel near the theatre quarter.

“We’re confident some of the office space will be speculatively built, but we’re also aware of a number of companies with requirements, so we’ll have to wait and see.

“This won’t be a short process and the scheme will be completed in phases, but we’re excited about the outcome.”

Bielby revealed that Maber will be the architects on the scheme.

Meanwhile, Nottingham City Council has told The BusinessDesk.com that work could start on the Guildhall site as early as next year, with a planning application submitted this Autumn, and that it has been in talks with Miller Birch since August of last year.

When asked why the scheme wasn’t the showpiece announcement for Team Nottingham at this year’s MIPIM, the Council said: “The announcement was sent out to coincide with publication of the agenda for the Council’s Executive Board on 22nd March which includes a report on the Guildhall development.”