Sheffield scheme set to be "future proofed" for retail horizon
SHEFFIELD’S New Retail Quarter project will be “future proofed” for 21st century retailing, helping to make the city a destination for investment, a senior business figure behind the scheme has said.
Sheffield City Council announced this week that it is committed to moving the £400m scheme forward and has set out an ambitious programme that targets completion in 2019 with any remaining phases being completed in 2020.
Today, the council said it is confident the scheme will make Sheffield a more attractive destination and from research, it expects it to draw in between £70m and £90m of extra spend into the city centre, which is money currently going to other cities.
Nalin Seneviratne, director of Capital & Major Projects at Sheffield City Council, said: “It will be a major boost to the city centre. We want to make sure the scheme that gets developed is fit for 21st century retailing. As online and multi-channel retailing grows, we want a scheme that can bend and flex with these trends, so we’re focusing on a scheme that links into the existing street pattern and is not just a shopping mall. It is about future proofing this to go forwards.
“Now, it is about taking control – the local authority taking control of the situation and driving it forward in a space where the public sector and the private sector can engage. This is very much a project about the council stepping in and spending money to secure the site and ensure we can take the scheme forward.”
More stories and background on the New Retail Quarter can be read by clicking here.
Developer Hammerson pulled out of the project, which under Council plans also has opportunity for office and residential space, last year, following a mutual agreement with Sheffield City Council that it would look for a new partner for the development. Before the firm pulled out, steps had already been taken on the project, including the demolition of the Wellington Street fire station which took place in 2010.
Seneviratne said: “We wouldn’t be able to be confident about the dates we’ve published if we still had the big things to contemplate and we had to start from scratch.”
Seneviratne also said he believes the reaction from other city centre retailers should be positive.
“The scheme would allow for proper integration between existing retailers and new retailers.”
Seneviratne said the New Retail Quarter project would allow Scottish Widows Investment Property Partnership Trust’s (SWIPPT) (part of Aberdeen Asset Management) project on the Moor shopping centre, as well as the Fargate shopping area, to be much better integrated.
The process to secure a partnership with a new developer is hoped to be completed by September, with the aim to start on site no later than spring 2015.
Seneviratne added: “The important thing is that the project will fill the gap. Sheffield has got a gap in its retail offering. The scheme will complement the good work already started on the regeneration and it will boost further regeneration.”
