Renfrew Riverside, home of the Braehead shopping centre, has an interesting claim to fame: it’s home to the Ikea that sells the most meatballs of any of the furniture retailer’s stores. Such an accolade was probably not at the forefront of the landowners’ minds when they set about redeveloping the 350 acres of former industrial land to the west of Glasgow.
Indeed, when Capital Shopping Centres bought a chunk of the site in 1997, it eschewed the standard regeneration strategy of kick-starting the project with residential and turned its attention to retail.
Brian Clarke, joint managing director of housebuilder Park Lane, which with developer Clydeport and CSC, comprises the main landowners at Renfrew Riverside, explains: “It wasn’t that attractive as a residentiallocation because it was a brownfield site.”
Seven years and £300m later, there is the 800,000 sq ft shopping centre, an Ikea, retail warehouses, offices and a car showroom. “Now Braehead is built and the infrastructure is in place, it is a very attractive proposition,” says Clarke. Park Lane is predominantly a residential developer, so Clarke’s enthusiasm for the location is understandable.
Now that its jewel is in position, CSC is widening its strategy. Referring to X-Leisure’s £40m Xscape leisure project, Rosemary Coles, group manager for CSC, says: “Retail is our core business and everything we are doing around it is to enhance that. One of the reasons for putting Xscape in is to expand the catchment population.”
Indeed X-Leisure, which will operate the snow-domed anchored Xscape, is forecasting 20m visitors a year from Glasgow and beyond. CSC is predicting that many of these visitors will use more of the area’s facilities, and particularly the Braehead shopping centre and the retail park.
The construction of Xscape is under way and the scheme is more than 60% let. The next phase for Renfrew Riverside involves the start of residential development. CSC is selling parcels of land to residential developers, and Wimpey is first out of the blocks with its Ferry Village scheme.
CSC is maintaining an input into thedesign of the residential elements of the site in order to co-ordinate the overall appearance of the regeneration area.
In addition, a substantial amount of offices is proposed. CSC’s first building, Titanium, is fully let – a good launch for an untried office location. Coles says a decision on whether to build more offices speculatively has not been made yet, but that CSC is considering selling sites for freehold.
Business park environment
GVA Grimley’s partner of office agency, Sinclair Brown, comments: “In terms of a business park environment, Renfrew Riverside is going to be a lot better than a lot of schemes because it has got shopping facilities and good transport facilities.”
A longer-term challenge for the regeneration project will be fighting off the potential threat from other retail schemes. The developers of Glasgow Harbour — Bryant Homes, CALA Homes and Park Lane — are in talks with the city council about plans to double — to as much as 500,000 sq ft — the amount of retail in their masterplan. And there is also a substantial amount of retail proposed at Pollok, to the south of the city. Coles admits that CSC will be keeping a close eye on developments at Glasgow Harbour and Pollok.
Scottish Enterprise has a vested interest in all of these regeneration projects. Jean Curren, manager of the agency’s competitive place department, says: “We will continue to promote and market appropriate development along the riverside, and Glasgow Harbour is a part of that.”
Phase I of Renfrew Riverside, funded completely by the private sector, is complete. The public sector is now gearing up to splash its cash on the project and, despite unfavourable market conditions, there is a lot of confidence about phase II.
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Phase I, which includes the Braehead shopping centre, Ikea, offices and a car showroom, is now complete. Work on phase II has now started |
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1986 Joint venture between Clyde Port Authority and Tarmac Dec 1992 Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s purchase site Mar 1997 CSC purchase site from Marks & Spencer/Sainsbury’s July 1999 Completion of Braehead Business Park (phase I) Sept 1999 Opening of Braehead shopping and leisure centre May 2000 Opening of Braehead Retail Park Nov 2000 Renfrew Riverside application for outline consent Sept 2001 Opening of Ikea and completion of phase 1 Mar 2002 Resolution to grant consent for Renfrew Riverside Nov 2003 Upgrading of M8 junction 26 starts Apr 2004 Xscape granted detailed planning consent May 2004 Infrastructure work starts Sept 2004 Xscape construction starts. Public/private partnership, Renfrew Riverside, launched to oversee the regeneration Oct 2004 Audi headquarters opens Nov 2004 Ferry Village (George Wimpey) housing construction starts Feb 2005 Infrastructure works complete July 2005 Public park opens Spring 2006 Xscape scheduled to open |
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East Renfrewshire council has appointed a strategy team, led by DTZ, to advise on the redevelopment of Barrhead. The strategy, which should be ready early next year, will outline plans to regenerate the former industrial town’s landscape and create business opportunities and leisure facilities. Glasgow Fort shopping park is continuing its phased opening. The 448,000 sq ft scheme, which includes retail and leisure, is a flagship development in Greater Easterhouse, an area of Glasgow that has seen regeneration initiatives for the past 10 years. A £25m revamp of the former Wills cigarette factory on the edge of Glasgow city centre has created 300,000 sq ft of office, leisure and retail space. The building, which has a grade B listed facade, has been rebranded as City Park, and has already secured tenants such as Scottish Gas and radio station Saga 105.2FM. Erskine Riverfront, to the west of Renfrew, is gearing up for its first phase of development. A joint venture between Renfrew Enterprise and Foxtown Properties will develop 80 acres of land split over four sites with offices and light industrial space. James Barr is agent. |
