It’s all happening in Barnsley. Two weeks ago, the developer of the £200m town centre redevelopment was finally confirmed. At the same time, work started on a separate £50m mixed-use scheme. For a town that has seen little major development in the past decade, both schemes, the largest of several in the town, are hailed as the beginning of Barnsley’s regeneration.
The developments are part of Remaking Barnsley, a project by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and Barnsley council. But, while the progress of one development has been relatively straightforward, the other has been held up by complications arising within the consortium that is developing it.
Tuscan hilltown plan
Quest Property’s £50m Gateway Plaza scheme has gone relatively smoothly. Spread over 13 storeys, the project will be a mix of offices, residential, retail and leisure. Quest is on site and is due to complete the scheme by 2008.
The other scheme, and one fraught with controversy, is the redevelopment of the town’s 8.6-acre Market and Metropolitan shopping centre. Called the Barnsley Markets Project, and one of the biggest regeneration projects the region has ever seen, it will include the replacement of 1970s buildings in the heart of the town with a market hall, a 90,000 sq ft department store, shops, a cinema, leisure facilities and a 1,200-space car park.
The project is designed by flamboyant architect Piers Gough and is part of architect Will Alsop’s masterplan for Barnsley. Based on Tuscan hill towns, the masterplan involves a wall around Barnsley to “reinforce its urbanity”.
When it was unveiled in July 2003, Alsop’s proposal was ridiculed. Tuscan hills and Barnsley, a former coal mining town, did not gel in people’s minds. But it won the crucial support of Yorkshire Forward and Barnsley council.
In December of the same year, Multiplex, along with joint venture partners Ashcroft Estates and Guildhouse Group, were chosen as preferred developers for the town-centre project. The group was named the 1249 Regeneration Partnership after the year Barnsley got its royal charter to trade as a market place. But, in April 2005, Multiplex pulled the plug.
At the time, Multiplex deputy managing director Ross McDiven said the decision to withdraw was because of the lengthy due diligence process. He said the joint venture partners’ vision for the project was inconsistent with Multiplex’s preferred design parameters and would not meet its risk return hurdles.
Losing the giant Australian developer was a blow. The partnership was questioned over its ability to work together. But David Kennedy, director of development for Barnsley council, says that “it was a mutual decision” to part company with Multiplex. He adds: “Multiplex bid on the contract and won the tender, but it went cold on it, so we decided mutually to separate, like a divorce.”
But the departure of Multiplex, which was providing funding for the scheme, meant it was months before Wilson Bowden came on board in October last year. “Of course, it was an annoyance and we would rather it hadn’t happened,” says Kennedy.
Following Multiplex’s delays with Wembley Stadium, and its disposal of stakes in projects in Cricklewood, north London, and White City, west London, several people now see the decision to pull out of Barnsley as a blessing.
Guy Gilfillan, head of business space for Lambert Smith Hampton, says: “It was better that Multiplex pulled out when it did. Given the problems the firm has had, it would have been disastrous if it had pulled out now rather than when it did. What we have now ended up with is a great consortium that will deliver the scheme.”
Diplomatically, Kennedy would only say that “sometimes things happen for the best”.
With developers confirmed, permission for outline planning will be submitted next month, and it is hoped that full planning will be granted in November. Compulsory purchase orders have already been approved and, when everything is in place, the development will be carried out in four phases over three years.
All eyes can now turn to what the development will actually do for the town. The main benefit is that it will extensively widen the retail offer. The Mall Alhambra, owned by The Mall, is the only shopping centre in the town, and offers mid-market names such as Primark, TK Maxx, Woolworths and Wilkinsons.
Demand after supply
“The Mall has some good tenants, but a town the size of Barnsley needs a bigger centre,” says Peter Heron, director of retail with Sanderson Weatherall in Leeds. “What the town really needs is a good department store.” He believes Debenhams would be the perfect choice.
Although there is little pent-up retail demand, Heron thinks any development will attract names such as River Island. “It’s amazing how many retailers come out of the woodwork for new schemes,” he says.
So far, this is just speculation. But, with the developers on board and planning permission being sought, the town can now realistically speculate about who is going to take pride of place in its newly developed town centre.
