Businesses invited to occupy city redevelopment
Sheffield City Council and its development partner, Queensberry, are inviting interest from potential occupiers for food and drink, leisure, and cultural spaces at a major redevelopment scheme.
They are looking for businesses interested in taking up premises within the Block H site at the Heart of the City II project.
Located on the city centre site between Wellington Street, Carver Street and Cambridge Street, Block H is viewed as the ‘cultural heart’ of the masterplan – designed to provide spaces to encourage human interaction, creativity and artistic expression. A planning application was submitted last month.
The leasing team is now actively looking for tenant offers on key elements of the site – including Cambridge Street Collective (CSC) and Bethel Chapel, as well as welcoming early expressions of interest on the planned refurbishment of Leah’s Yard.
Proposals for CSC include a 20,000 sq ft industrial-style space, which would be perfectly suited to a food hall or similar sociable, communal offer. An operator for the venue is being sought to promote, manage and sublet all the internal space.
Interlinking with CSC is Bethel Chapel, which is being re-imagined as a 15,000 sq ft live entertainment venue. The chosen operator for this building will be responsible for curating events and social activities.
Further North on Cambridge Street, early expressions of interest are also being requested for 11,000 sq ft of space inside the Grade II* Listed Leah’s Yard – which houses a collection of former industrial workshops.
Structural and roofing works are set to be carried out to bring the building back into a usable condition.
While plans for Leah’s Yard are at an embryonic stage, the council says it wants to see the workshops become creative makers hubs, with a distinct Sheffield identity.
Andrew Davison, project director of Queensberry, said: “The plans for Block H epitomise our ambition to create places with character and personality that will bring something entirely unique to Sheffield city centre.
“Cambridge Street Collective in particular, promises to become a destination that both locals and visitors will cherish and enjoy.
“We still believe large communal hubs will still be very relevant moving forward. The concept of a vibrant environment, with shared tables and a variety of food, drink and leisure offers, has become synonymous with how we want to work and socialise these days.
“Now that the planning application has been submitted, we are keen to go out to the market – enabling us to be ready to hit the ground running this summer.
“We are confident in attracting leasehold food and beverage and leisure tenants of real originality and quality to help bring our vision to life.”
Construction across the site is anticipated to get underway later this year, with completion of all the elements expected in 2022.
