Consultation in the works for £500m Sheffield Retail Quarter

SHEFFIELD COUNCIL has opened up a public consultation for the £500m Sheffield city centre retail quarter.

The “competitive dialoge” has been welcomed by the development group behind the project Sheffield Retail Development Group (SRDG).

This comes ahead of the SRDGs own public consultation meeting intended to get the views of the public on the future of Sheffield City Centre.

SRDG has proposed a development which will have an anchor store and shops as well as offices, restaurants and bars in response to the City Council seeking to engage with a strategic development partner to help deliver the new retail quarter in the heart of the city.

Group spokesman John Crowther, commenting on a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union said: “We welcome the move by Sheffield City Council.

“This notification indicates that the city council is moving forward quickly on the Retail Quarter. The council is seeking submissions of interest by May 11.

“From this we should see a number of operators selected, probably up to a maximum of six.”

Mr Crowther is 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.

Meanwhile SRDG is pressing on with its consultation process. A public consultation meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Royal Victoria on Tuesday, April 28 from 5pm to 7pm.

Mr Crowther said: “The redevelopment of the centre of Sheffield is a once in a lifetime opportunity and the people of Sheffield deserve the very best sustainable solution that delivers for the vast majority of its stakeholders.”

The proposals from SRDG – made up of a group of Sheffield business people – are benefitting from the expertise from international organisations including architects and master planners Chapman Taylor, property consultants Central Retail and UK property and infrastructure advisors Capita.

Mr Crowther, who confirmed that SRDG had been involved in informal discussions with Sheffield City Council for more than a year, said: “We have significant financial backing and the passion of a local team to see the transformation of the city centre with a 650,000 sq ft development on a five-acre site by the end of 2018 – a year head of the city council’s proposed timescale.”