Green light for multi-million pound Chinese property deal

PLANS for a £65m leisure, international and residential development in Sheffield have been approved,

Work is expected to start on New Era Square – a 21-storey mixed leisure, commercial and residential development – in July, after planning officers gave it the go ahead.
 
The development is set to transform an area between London Road and Bramall Lane, close to the city centre and New Era Development, the Sheffield-based company behind the project, said it will create a “cosmopolitan, international, multi-cultural square which is available to all.”
 
The project will include retail units, food and drink outlets on the ground floor, leading out to an open-air square for events. A large Chinese supermarket will span two levels.
 
On the first floor there will be office space for professional service businesses, an exhibition hall and a China Business Incubator to enhance enterprise and trade between China and the UK.
 
From the third floor there will be approximately 700 student accommodation units, predominately 30sqm studio rooms, plus micro-flats and student cluster flats.
 
The project, which has received significant inward investment from China, is set to create more than 400 new jobs once construction has been completed.
 
More than 100 people attended a special event to launch the development last year, including key investors and the Deputy Consul General Of The People’s Republic of China, Zhou Haicheng.
 
The project also received the backing of the some of the city’s key people and organisations – with Deputy Prime Minister and Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg, Julie Dore, leader of Sheffield City Council and Paul Blomfield, Labour MP for Sheffield Central, all speaking out in support of the project.
 
Jerry Cheung, managing director of New Era Development (UK), said: “We are absolutely delighted that New Era Square has been granted planning approval. This is the culmination of many years of hard work so it is the best possible news we could have hoped for.
 
“New Era Square is a landmark development for the city of Sheffield that will see the area transformed into a cosmopolitan, international, multi-cultural square which is available to all. We want the area to become a central point for the whole community – something that will bring people together.
 
“As well as providing leisure and residential facilities, the China Business Incubator within the development will become a hub for promoting international trade, focusing on opportunities for businesses to increase their presence in China and to bring more inward business from the Far East.
 
“We are very much looking forward to seeing our vision of this exciting project come to life once work begins.”
 
In the report to the planning committee, officers stated:
 
•         The scheme overall represents a high quality and significant development at a highly sustainable and prominent gateway location on the edge of the city centre.
•         The scheme represents substantial investment in the city that will provide a multi-cultural social hub and Chinese Business Incubator with the potential for significant inward investment and business development.
•         The development will provide a new urban destination for the benefit of the wider community including a new public square and enhancement of the pedestrian/cycle infrastructure at St Mary’s roundabout.

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