Following the failure of Hammerson’s Sevenstone scheme in Sheffield, many high end retailers have struggled to acquire premises in the northern city and are instead setting their sights on nearby destinations such as York, Leeds and Manchester. However, should an exciting new development in the city centre get the green light, this is a situation that may soon change.
Sheffield City Council last week revealed plans to create a mixed use retail and leisure facility in the heart of the city centre, which it hopes will attract a host of “aspirational and contemporary” retailers to the area.
The project will bring around 900,000 sq ft of leisure and retail space, along with 200,000 sq ft of residential and high quality office facilities, to the shopping districts of Fargate and The Moor. In total it is expected to cost around £480 million to bring to fruition.
Further announcements are expected later this year, yet the council is hopeful that the scheme may welcome its first tenants as early as 2019. It is currently in talks with as many as 20 potential developers, as well as Leonard Design Architects, to devise the quickest possible turnaround for the project to ensure consumer spending remains as much in the local area as possible.
Executive director for place at Sheffield City Council, Simon Green, has already begun to speculate over which retailers could be brought in to anchor the ambitious scheme, saying; “We would clearly welcome John Lewis to be part of this scheme as the anchor store.”
However, the plans may be disrupted by the ongoing Sevenstones issue which, although the council and Hammerson parted ways in 2013 following multiple delays to the scheme, remains a key part of Sheffield’s regeneration.
The council is now looking to bring in a new development partner whilst negotiating for the purchase of necessary properties in a deal worth £55 million, yet no solid completion date for the problematic development has been set – only a ballpark estimate of 2019-2021.
Nevertheless, the Sevenstone process has indeed demonstrated a willingness by high end retailers to take up space in Sheffield city centre, where demand is growing. As it stands, only two per cent of retail tenants in Sheffield are classed as “high end” or “premium”, yet the demand from consumers lies at 10 per cent, forcing many to travel to Manchester in order to source the goods they desire.
Council leader Julie Dore believes that, by creating a large amount of prime retail space in the city centre, the groundwork laid by Hammerson at Sevenstones with premium retailers could be built upon.
She says; “The council won’t be choosing the shops – that is down to the developer.
“It has mainly come through the work that we did with Hammerson – when they were considering Sevenstone they, as a developer, knew the retailers that are interested.
“There are high end, premium quality retailers that have expressed interest in coming to Sheffield city centre.”
