Newport’s residents get few chances to admire the River Usk. Four lanes of traffic tear along the waterfront, and the concrete backs of the city’s car parks shield it from the retail core.
The only signs that improvement is ahead are piles of builders’ rubble. “Welcome to Beirut,” says one agent.
Newport’s urban regeneration company, Newport Unlimited, plans to open up the waterfront to the city centre, creating the perception of “Newport-on-Usk” rather than of a city divided by its river.
This is part of Newport’s Vision 2020, a £1bn masterplan developed in co-operation with the Welsh Assembly and Newport council. Around £100,000 of funds for the three main areas of development − the eastern, western and central areas − will come from the
public sector.
The vision’s list of commitments (see box, p136) include reclaiming 200 acres of land and creating 4,000 jobs. The speed of traffic along the waterfront will be calmed to 20 miles per hour. Plans also include a Paris-style Left Bank of culture and arts, and an £80m university. Studies show that the latter will put £1.56 into the local economy for every £1 spent.
Wales’ first URC does not have much time to deliver these improvements, as the city hosts the Ryder Cup in four years. John Burrows, managing director of Newport Unlimited, is the first to realise the world’s cameras will be focused on Wales’ third city.
“We’ve got a lot of exposure on the back of the Ryder Cup,” he says. “We need the property industry to show an interest and, luckily for us, they are the sort of people who will want to play the Ryder Cup course. Immediately, Newport is on their short list.”
Still, the URC will have its work cut out. Despite being just 10 minutes from Cardiff by train and 15 miles
by car, Newport has failed to thrive. Cash has poured into the surrounding M4 area, but that wealth has not been translated into city-centre investment.
Its unemployment rate is above the UK average and, according to the council, concentrated pockets of deprivation sit alongside affluent areas. Each of these falls into the 100 most deprived wards in Wales.
After two years of work, signs of progress are visible on the streets. UBS Global Asset Management Triton Property Fund’s refurbishment of its Kingsway centre is under way, Network Rail has agreed to upgrade the railway station and Modus has taken on the 90,000 sq ft redevelopment of the Cambrian centre opposite.
The jewel in the crown is Modus’ 500,000 sq ft retail-led Friars Walk centre, next to the Kingsway centre.
The Manchester-based group has signed development agreements and builders should be on site next July. Doors are scheduled to open in 2009, shortly ahead of the Ryder Cup. Debenhams has signed up as an anchor, and Modus is hoping to exchange contracts “shortly” with another three large occupiers.
Friars Walk was designed to stop leakage in to Cardiff something the city wrestles with, says Burrows. He is, however, realistic about the outcome. “We are not expecting to take away the monthly shop to Cardiff, but we’d hope to get the weekly shop. We’ve got half a million people in a 30-minute radius.”
Brendan Flood, managing director of Modus, agrees. “If you put a pint of milk on someone’s doorstep then they won’t go down the road to buy another pint of milk. It’s a convenience thing. There are obvious signs of under investment in Newport and people are desperate for their own parochial centre. They would like to have a bit of pride in their city.”
Retail space
Rather than going head-to-head with developments, such as St David’s 2 in Cardiff, Flood believes there is a place for both. Retailers have suggested to Modus that they would open in both centres. “There’s one price for Cardiff and one for Newport. We don’t see it as a head-on battle,” he says. “There is a lack of bigger retail space, and we expect some retailers to upsize into our scheme. Thankfully, we managed to secure a big space at a sensible price and, in retail, market and margin are all important.”
Rents in Friars Walk will be pitched at £150 per sq ft zone A. This is a big discount on Cardiff’s £285 per sq ft, but still a 31% rise on the £125 per sq ft achieved in Newport.
Price will also play an important factor at UBS’s Kingsway centre. The scheme, built in the late 1960s, has not been refurbished since 1985, says Tom Tyler, director at Chester Properties, which is UBS’s asset manager.
Following a protracted and complicated negotiation with Modus and the council to link the two schemes and replace a multi-storey car park, Work is under way, Tyler says. Peacocks, Woolworths and Savers will continue to trade from the centre. With a value to mid-range tenant line-up, Tyler says the scheme should achieve zone A rents of £75-£85 per sq ft.
Public awareness
Tyler is candid about the outlook in the short to medium term. Pointing to the Kingsway and its setting in John Frost Square, a windswept expanse of concrete, he says: “It is pretty terrible at the moment, and things are going to get worse before they get any better.”
Robert Carew Chaston, partner at local agent Hutchings & Thomas, echoes those sentiments. “To generate the improvements we’ve got to go through the demolition, but I believe a lot more could be done with marketing to raise public awareness,” he says. “We are not going to see a great deal of rental growth, and there is concern about what will happen to Commercial Street the prime pitch in Newport. We are going to see a lot of relocations.”
He adds: “Plans have gone very well and they have been coordinated and structured, but Newport Unlimited won’t always have control of the situation. What happens when people want to maximise values and decide to hold back plans or stifle proposals?”
Newport Unlimited has already seen a glimpse of this. Plans to bring the landmark grade II-listed arts college back to its former glory have hit a stumbling block. Steven Slocombe, development manager at the URC, admits the project is not moving as fast as hoped.
“We would like 47 swish apartments but the developer appears to have hit a funding gap.” But he adds that this is a result of success, not failure, and epitomises the regeneration of Newport. “We have so many beautiful buildings hidden in a concrete jungle. Just decking buildings as we have started to do has created an aspiration.”
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Assist or encourage in Central Newport 500,000 sq ft retail 250,000 sq ft of refurbished retail 600,000 sq ft of new and refurbished offices 2,000 homes, principally flats in the central zone 200 acres of reclaimed land 4,000 jobs New footbridge Improved railway station and relocation of ticketing halls Bus station |
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Extension of city centre to both sides of the River Usk Paris-style Left Bank comprising education, culture and arts facilities East Bank District a 60m-long residential strip along the waterfront, with a public park and waterside walkways Reduction of the bus station from 30 stands to 15 Buses rerouted to stop throughout the city centre University on site opposite the Friars Walk Debenhams Student campus at north end of city centre Five hotels in the pipeline Possible relocation of Royal Gwent hospital to 50-acre site near former steelworks |
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Retail Modus developing gateway site fronting Cambrian road and Queensway 90,000 sq ft retail and leisure including café bars and a 128-bedroom hotel Modus believed to be in talks with Waitrose to anchor the scheme 85,000 sq ft of offices. This will be the last element unless a prelet is secured 228 one- and two-bed flats in a23-storey tower Kingsway UBS developing carrying out a £20m refurbishment of the 290,000 sq ft centre Development of a 55, 000 sq ft anchor store New facade and glazed entrance |
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Friars Walk Construction start on 500,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme scheduled for summer 2007 Completion due in 2009 Anchored by 105,000 sq ft Debenhams 388,000 sq ft of retail plus multiscreen cinema |
