After rival proposals, partners walking away, three different anchor tenants and two name changes, more than eight years’ work is about to come to fruition. In just under three weeks’ time, the dramatic makeover of Bristol’s much-maligned Broadmead will finally be unveiled.
But there is more to it than a makeover. Cabot Circus, as the scheme is called, is 1.5m sq ft of mixed-use development intended to catapult Bristol from 29th in the UK’s retail rankings into the top 10, turning its 1950s down-at-heel city centre into something more befitting the country’s eighth-biggest city.
The scheme, devised by joint venture partners Hammerson and Land Securities, numbers Harvey Nichols among the 63 shops, cafés and restaurants that will be new to Bristol.
In the fanfare of the 25 September grand opening, it will be easy to forget the trials and tribulations of bringing about a regenerated city centre (see timeline, p129). It will also be easy to forget – for a few hours at least – today’s tougher market conditions.
Below and overleaf, some of those involved join local retail agents to talk about the journey taken, the timing of the opening and the prospects for Bristol as it gains 1m sq ft of new retail and leisure.
The council’s adviser
Susan Lynch got involved when Bristol’s retail was probably at one of its lowest points. It was 1999. The 995,000 sq ft Cribbs Causeway, five miles out of town, had been open a year, having poached John Lewis from the city centre along with nearly one-fifth of its retail spend.
Drivers Jonas development partner Lynch was brought in by Bristol City Council to offer planning and delivery advice. DJ conducted a retail capacity study identifying the need for an additional 500,000 sq ft of retail space and two potential sites at opposite ends of the city centre’s retail pitch.
Battle lines were drawn as Land Securities drew up plans for the east, and Norwich Union with London & Paris promoted plans for St Mary-le-Port to the west.
“Both came up with proposals, and we advised the council that it should go to the east because the west was too constrained and couldn’t accommodate 500,000 sq ft. It was also divorced from the existing centre,” says Lynch.
The battle did not end there. Once the east was chosen, Hammerson, which had been buying up sites in that area, entered the arena. The council threw down the gauntlet to both developers to come up with a scheme. Drivers Jonas was ready to advise the council on which scheme to opt for when the two developers, fresh from their success on the Bullring in Birmingham, again decided to work together.
Lynch will not say whose scheme was chosen, only that they were completely different. By now, proposals were grander, incorporating a larger site of 36 acres, doubling the retail and leisure and adding 500,000 sq ft of residential and office space.
Lynch says that rerouting Bond Street to open up the site has been the biggest headache. “It took a long time, but has made a massive difference to the way the scheme has been designed,” she says.
If earlier proposals had been adopted, Bristol would probably have ended up with a traditionally dull, big-box shopping centre instead of the open-street scheme it is about to get. “The council has achieved what it wanted. It has taken a strong role in all of this,” says Lynch.
The developers
“There have been some low points,” muses Bob de Barr, project director at the Bristol Alliance – the joint venture vehicle between Hammerson and LandSec.
De Barr has spent 10 years working on schemes in Bristol, the past eight on Cabot Circus. Walking around the scheme, his pride in the project is akin to that of a parent. “When it opens, you lose ownership of it,” he says. “You walk around and want to ask people ‘who are you?’ Suddenly it isn’t yours any more.”
The speed of the planning decision – just four months – belies the years of consultation that paved the way. In 2003, the secretary of state then took less than a month to confirm it.
Cabot Circus will open 90% let, and has pushed Bristol’s top retail rents up from £180 per sq ft zone A to £250 per sq ft. But the cooling property market has resulted in a drop in the projected capital value.
De Barr and Robin Dobson, director of retail development for Hammerson, acknowledge that recent deals have taken a bit more work to deliver, but they have been fortunate in the scheme’s timing.
“It has been only in the past six to nine months that tougher market conditions have started to affect the market,” says de Barr. “We’ve enjoyed an inward yield shift since the beginning of the project, and it will come back in again as the market improves.”
The quality retail in the Quakers Friars quarter of the scheme, anchored by Harvey Nichols, has been the surprising performer during the letting process, with rents achieved some 30% higher than projected.
Dobson says: “We are not in this for the short term. We’ve hit pretty much all the rental targets and we’re on target to hit the opening date.”
These final weeks are all about ensuring the retailers can get fit-outs completed in time for the opening.
The Bristol Alliance will retain ownership, with LandSec managing the asset.
“It has exceeded our expectations,” says de Barr. “It is just a fabulous, fabulous space. We will bring back those sections of the populace that didn’t want to shop in Broadmead.”
The local agents
For those on the sidelines, watching Cabot Circus appear like a waking monster from behind the hoardings has been just as eventful.
“It’s caused such a vacuum since it started,” says Andrew Capes, partner at Hartnell Taylor Cook. “There is so much potential in the city. My clients are waiting for the scheme to open so the streets can get back to normal.”
But economic conditions mean that dealing with post-opening pitch realignment may be a little subdued.
“The next biggest challenge will be to ensure that the rest of Broadmead doesn’t become secondary. Cabot Circus will shift the pitch,” says David Mace, partner at GVA Grimley. “It will also be interesting to see what happens to the peripheral areas.”
No doubt, a close watch will be kept on the city centre’s existing shopping centre, The Mall. Out of 140 tenants, it will lose seven or eight to Cabot Circus – a small enough percentage not to worry Capes, the agent on the scheme.
Owner The Mall Fund will have to look at its tenant mix, and possibly reposition the centre. Capes admits it is not a good time in the market cycle to be doing that.
Next year, Primark will take up residency in the city-centre store that House of Fraser is vacating in order to become the anchor at Cabot Circus. It is hoped that the budget fashion retailer, together with the nearby Marks & Spencer – probably the biggest name not to have been tempted by Cabot Circus – will keep footfall high in the original Broadmead pitch.
It may take longer for owners of buildings surrounding Cabot Circus to capitalise on the huge investment that has been pumped into the development during the past eight years, but at least its opening will bring an end to the disruption they have endured.
Cabot Circus timeline
Late 1950s Bristol city centre rebuilt after heavy bombing during the second world war
1975 Extension to Broadmead first mooted
1998 Cribbs Causeway opens, poaching John Lewis and 18% of the city centre’s retail trade
1999 Drivers Jonas identifies two sites for retail for Bristol council
2000 Hammerson and Land Securities start working together on site. Henderson Global Investment pulls its 25% stake in the scheme
Aug 2002 Outline planning submitted
Dec 2002 Bristol council grants consent
24 Dec 2002 Referred to the secretary of state
Jan 2003 Secretary of state returns a decision in favour of the scheme
Autumn 2004 Detailed consent granted
2004 Bristol Alliance formally constituted. Selfridges pulls out as anchor to be replaced by Marks & Spencer, which then also pulls out
Feb 2005 House of Fraser signs as anchor
Sept 2005 Demolition commences
Feb 2007 After being criticised for evoking city’s links with the slave trade, Merchants Quarter name dropped in favour of Cabot Circus
25 Sept 2008 Official opening
