£500m plans for city centre retail quarter attract world class support team
DEVELOPERS that have outlined plans for a £500m Sheffield city centre retail quarter have attracted support from world class advisors.
The proposals from a group of Sheffield business people – the Sheffield Retail Development Group (SRDG) – are benefitting from input from experts including architects and master planners Chapman Taylor, property consultants Central Retail and property and infrastructure advisors Capita.
The news comes after Sheffield City Council announced that it is looking to engage with a strategic development partner to help deliver the new retail quarter in the heart of the city.
Last year original developer Hammerson pulled out of the project, following a mutual agreement with Sheffield City Council. Before it did so, steps had already been taken on the project, including the demolition of the Wellington Street fire station in 2010.
The SRDG proposed development will have an anchor store and shops as well as offices, restaurants and bars are just some elements of the proposals. Further details will be revealed later this year.
A member of the group is Yorkshire businessman John Crowther, a former chief executive of Vickers Defence Systems and well-known in Sheffield for his work with the Sheffield City Trust, where he was a non-executive director for four years.
Mr Crowther, who confirmed that SRDC had been involved in informal discussions with Sheffield City for more than a year, said: “We have significant financial backing and the passion of a local team with the city at its heart to transform the city centre with a 650,000sq ft development on a five-acre site by the end of 2018 – a year head of the city council’s proposed timescale
“We have a world class professional team supporting our Sheffield team that can deliver a scheme that will transform the city centre. We have a market-led solution that can take the risk away from the council so it no longer has to divert resources at a time of dire spending cuts.
“We have identified half-a-billion pounds of funding. We want Sheffield people to know there’s a local bid that’s ready to go,” said Mr Crowther.
