Sheffield's regeneration masterplan - Master Sheff
Property Week - 15.02.08
By Hardeep Sandher
A long-time also-ran behind Leeds and Manchester, plans are afoot to restore Sheffield as a city of importance in the north.
Sheffield is officially flying high again. Although it can no longer be referred to as the city of steel, it is definitely a city on the move.
Regeneration that began in 2000 has now culminated in the widely anticipated economic masterplan, launched by development company Creative Sheffield at the London Stock Exchange last month.
The masterplan has identified a massive £1.1bn shortfall between what the city is currently producing and what it could be. In calling for a 'link-up' between Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester, and identifying schemes that will help plug the productivity gap, the masterplan aims to re-establish a thriving city economy that will dominate Yorkshire.
In addition to the economic masterplan, Creative Sheffield will this month take its city centre plan to the council for approval. Within this plan the development company will look at how it can further integrate and encourage expansion in the city, especially in relation to the universities in the area, following initiatives such as the Digital Campus next to Sheffield Hallam University.
It is quite a turnaround for the city, which only 10 years ago sat in the doldrums, amid rising debts and failed projects. With the decline of its manufacturing and industrial trade, which brought a loss of jobs and the city's identity, many could be forgiven for thinking Sheffield was destined to sink into the Yorkshire background.
Steely determination
However, Sheffield's history in recent years is evidence of its transformation from dwindling steel city to regeneration central.
In 2000, urban regeneration company Sheffield One now restructured to become Creative Sheffield launched a masterplan that included the 'magnificent seven': seven schemes, most of which are now completed or under way, which were identified as key to changing the face of the former steel town. Even the manufacturing trade has made a comeback, as organisations such as Lamborghini and NASA source products from the area.
Sceptics are now asking whether the economic and city centre masterplans can maintain the momentum. The current economic climate suggests that, despite the recent improvements, people may be afraid to invest in the city in such a fragile market.
They also claim its proximity to Leeds and Manchester may actually be more of a hindrance than a help, and many argue that although the northern 'link-up' is a good idea in theory, realistically the three will always remain competitors.
But Andy Topley, director of regeneration at Creative Sheffield, is optimistic. 'The picture at the moment is a positive one,' he says. 'Everything has been driven by the needs of the city's economy and that has changed quite radically recently.'
One of the biggest changes has been through the Heart of the City scheme, which comprises CTP St James's award-winning St Paul's Place development. This, alongside a renewed retail element and projects in and around the station, has become one of the prime drivers of Sheffield's regeneration. St Paul's Place defines the city's new business space with more than 140,000 sq ft of grade A office space and up to 135,000 sq ft of leisure and retail, and a new four-star Mercure hotel.
'What the economic masterplan is saying is that we need to expand our Heart of the City scheme even further, and the outcome of that is a new business district - 4.8m sq ft of office space over a 13-year period,' says Topley. 'It sounds a lot but not when you compare it to other cities.'
Over the next 15 years Creative Sheffield's masterplan will ensure that the new schemes increase the critical mass of businesses located in the centre and that the city's transport network receives investment.
'We're determined to always have a pipeline of supply,' says Topley. 'The worst thing you can do is have a plan, work through it and then realise you're running out of things. You should be thinking about what you are going to be doing next when you're busiest.'
And Sheffield is busy. Creative Sheffield emphasises the need to put complementary schemes next to each other, evidenced by Hammerson's £600m retail scheme, Sevenstone, alongside what is already at the Heart of the City (see box). Developers Valad Properties and Castlemore are also on board the regeneration train with their Sheaf Valley/Digital Campus (see box) and West Bar (see box) schemes under way.
'Part of it is marketing,' explains Topley. 'Sheffield has never marketed itself one might say it's because we've never had the products, but you need the goods before you can market it.'
But if Sheffield is to successfully market itself as a business district it must get ahead of its neighbours, in particular Manchester and Leeds. Topley argues that Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester need each other and, although competition is healthy, collaboration is a better way forward in the long run.
'The population of Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester is bigger than the population of London and they are only 30 miles apart from each other,' he explains. 'Leeds and Manchester are too small to achieve a major European city status on their own. What we are suggesting is that the three economies working together is better than each city working independently.'
The economic masterplan proposes improvements to the transport services between the three cities, to create an an intercity service.
'There is a tremendous economic logic to [the proposals]. Together the cities can be stronger in the global economy,' says Colin Mawhinney, head of the renaissance unit at Leeds City Council. 'Each of the cities has made strides in their own right and the next step is to look at how they can be better positioned. We're very interested in the idea but it is challenging. At the moment it is a thinking consensus, nothing has been discussed.'
Bruce Isles, director of development at Hammerson, argues that the northern economy link-up may require some more forward thinking, however.
'I think those cities need to remain competitive to maintain their edge and that they also need to have a framework within which they are operating strategically,' he says.
Short-term flux
Furthermore, the credit crunch bodes ill for investment, which is crucial to Sheffield closing the £1.1bn gap in its economy.
Isles insists that despite market concerns, developments must go on.
'It is just one of the many things you have to deal with it doesn't undermi
ne any of things we are doing,' says Isles. 'If we relied on the short-term flux in the market cycles then we wouldn't be acting in the best interests of our shareholders and we wouldn't be taking the medium-term view required for these projects.
'Everyone is and will be very aware of the credit crunch, but fundamentally it doesn't change the fact that cities like Sheffield need to grow and expand,' says Topley. 'It doesn't change the fundamental essence of the opportunity there.
'The most important word in regeneration, in my opinion, is confidence. And how do you build confidence? With your public partners and private sector investors and we are now on people's radars with the work we have been doing.'
Sheffield on the up: Sevenstone
Hammerson's sevenstone retail scheme fits in with existing schemes at the Heart of the City. However, as the only retail development in the city it is already turning heads.
Sevenstone will regenerate a 20 acre site in the centre of Sheffield to create a new focus for shopping by linking the existing retail offer with a new line-up, including a 260,000 sq ft John Lewis store. But the focus of the £600m mixed-use development will not be a traditional mall - instead it will be a glazed covered street with a series of open public spaces.
'Sevenstone will be the necklace of Creative Sheffield's masterplan and we see that as being a huge privilege, but also a big responsibility,' explains Bruce Isles, director of development at Hammerson.
Isles doesn't see the potential link-up between Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester as a threat to the retail quarter Hammerson is creating.
'John Lewis is easily one of the most sought-after anchors in retail and, if they don't feel there is any significant overlap in the catchment areas, then that's really underpinning everything we're going for and the confidence that there is room for strong retail areas in all the cities,' he says.
sheffield on the up: West bar
Castlemore, the developer behind the £400m West Bar mixed-use development, submitted its plans to the council last year. It aims to create a professional district on a
1.8m sq ft site on the fringe of the town centre that will be 50% offices alongside restaurants, residential and student accommodation.
A hotel is also planned for a 7 acre site bordering West Bar. When complete, West Bar is expected to be the centre of Sheffield's legal, financial and professional community.
'Sheffield is an interesting city economically,' says Peter Fowles, investment and development manager at Castlemore. 'There is an awful lot of catch-up going on at the moment in Sheffield but we believe the city has a lot to offer. The West Bar scheme is a bit of an entity on its own, although it is a part of the Riverside scheme.'
'We wouldn't have spent two years and I won't tell you how much money if we didn't believe in the potential Sheffield has,' says Fowles.
Extensive public consultations on the proposals were carried out last year and received extremely positive reactions from the public. Planning permission is expected this spring and, if successful, construction could begin within a year.
Sheffield on the up: Sheaf Valley/Digital Campus
'Sheffield is on a run,' says Kevin McCabe, non-executive director of Valad, which is joint partner on the Sheaf Valley/Digital Campus scheme with GMI Property.
'There is no reason at all why its economic masterplan can't succeed or why Sheffield can't grow in prosperity, not just in aesthetic regeneration, which we as developers are involved in, but in social regeneration in terms of jobs as well.'
McCabe's ties with Sheffield have always been strong through his involvement with Sheffield United Football Club. But now his property ties are increasing. The Sheffield Digital Campus, next to Sheffield Hallam University, is aimed at high-tech businesses in the creative and digital sector.
While regeneration company Yorkshire Forward is promoting the various digital clusters in the city centre, Sheaf Valley/Digital Campus easily qualifies as the biggest and
most important development.
Centrally located alongside the railway station, it is split into three phases, totalling 512,000 sq ft.
Phases 1 and 2 are already under construction and are due for completion this year.