The omens look good for Hull as The Deep, a new leisure attraction which opened in March, sets the trend for increased retail and leisure spend which had drifted elsewhere. By David Quinn
Kingston-upon-Hull’s latest leisure attraction, The Deep, catapulted the east Yorkshire city into the limelight when it opened in March.
The £46m Sir Terry Farrell-designed “submarium” attracted 100,000 visitors in its first month. It has been approved by a Japanese guide to the world’s 100 best visitor attractions and has been the focus of specialist articles in the building and architecture press.
Often seen as York and Leeds’ less glamorous sibling, Hull will be hoping The Deep proves more than a flash in the pan in attracting retail and leisure spend, which in the past often drifted elsewhere.
The omens look fairly good, mainly because The Deep is not a stand-alone attraction. As well as the Farrell-designed aquarium, there are several other retail and leisure-led regeneration projects in the pipeline.
The Ferensway area of Hull is about to receive a major overhaul, masterplanned by that other stalwart of contemporary urban design, Lord Foster, and his company Foster & Partners.
The £150m 29-acre St Stephen’s scheme, being developed by London & Amsterdam in conjunction with Yorkshire Forward and Hull city council, forms a major part of the regeneration of the city and will contain 430,570 sq ft (40,000m2) of retail and leisure when complete.
It is said to be the second-largest urban development scheme in the UK, with shops, bars, restaurants, an 80-bed hotel, a multiplex cinema, a theatre and 220 new homes planned.
It is rumoured that Tesco will be the first retail prelet at St Stephen’s, although London & Amsterdam director Stephen Berry is reluctant to comment on the precise content of the scheme.
“We are talking to a number of retailers, including a 110,000 sq ft food store as the anchor tenant,” he says.
St Stephen’s, which was formerly known simply as Ferensway, will also feature a new integrated bus and rail interchange. It is expected that work to relocate the existing bus station will commence by the end of the year and construction on the commercial element will begin in the middle of next year, with a two-year build period.
The scheme is partly the responsibility of Citybuild, Hull’s urban regeneration company set up in April. Other key schemes being worked on by Citybuild include the Community Superstadium, a £43m, 25,000 seat development due to open in west Hull in the autumn.
It is hoped that St Stephens, like The Deep, will help to boost Hull’s retail and leisure market, which has lost out in the past to York, Leeds and Sheffield’s Meadowhall.
Nora Galley, planning consultant with Roger Tym & Partners, which has helped to oversee the redevelopment of the Ferensway area, believes the scheme will prove crucial in bringing retail and leisure spend back into Hull.
“The scheme is important for the city. It will help to claw back the £30m which we estimate it loses each year to other areas,” she says.
Retail-led regeneration
Other parts of Hull are also benefiting from the development of retail-led regeneration schemes. Work started last week on Sheffield-based developer Dransfield Properties’ 190,000 sq ft (17,650m2) scheme on Holderness Road in the east of the city.
An existing school and community centre are being demolished and rebuilt on the site and several local businesses are being relocated from the area.
In their place will come a 90,000 sq ft (8,360m2) Big W and a 25,000 sq ft (2,320m2) JJB Sports concept store, which will house health and fitness facilities, including a swimming pool.
KFC and the local council’s new drop-in centre are also taking space at the scheme and a further 40,000 sq ft (3,720m2) of retail space is planned.
Dransfield chief executive Mike Dransfield admits that demonstrating the need for the new retail floorspace in this part of Hull was a major element of the two-year planning process.
“From day one of this scheme, we have worked closely with the local authority, particularly the education department and all the businesses who are affected by the development,” he says.
Julian Stephenson of CB Hillier Parker, which advised the developer on planning issues, believes working with the local authority was the key factor in allowing the scheme to go ahead.
“It highlights the fact that major new retail schemes can be brought forward in today’s more restrictive planning climate if developers are willing to work in partnership with local authorities,” he says.
The scheme has echoes of another of Dransfield Properties’ regeneration projects in Hull, this time involving accommodation for doctors’ practices, rather than a school.
The second phase of St Andrew’s Retail Park in the Hessle Road area will allow three GP practices to move into new accommodation above retail units. Woolworths and Lloyds Pharmacy have been confirmed amongst the retail tenants.
“Over the past few years, Hessle Road has been in desperate need of new investment and, in this case, that has meant looking outside the traditional boundaries of what we as retail developers provide,” says Dransfield.
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Yorkshire prime zone A rents |
|
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Units in York command the highest rents |
|
|
Centre |
Prime zone A rent (£ per sq ft) |
|
Doncaster |
115 |
|
Huddersfield |
110 |
|
Harrogate |
125 |
|
Hull |
125 |
|
Rotherham |
65 |
|
Wakefield |
110 |
|
York |
160 |
|
Source: DTZ |
|
Development round-up
Coppergate inquiry
York
The planning inquiry into Land Securities’ controversial 330,000 sq ft (27,870m2) Coppergate scheme in York opened at the beginning of the year. It was postponed after four weeks when it became clear that the hearing would take longer than first envisaged.
The inquiry revealed that York city council’s own conservation architect, Janine Riley, had described LandSec’s designs as “weak” in a memo.
Last month the hearing reopened when independent inspector Richard Bingham and others involved in the original investigation became available. A verdict is expected within the next few weeks.
The scheme is contentious because of the many nearby historic sites. Should consent be given, Coppergate would stand in the shadow of the notorious 11th-century Clifford’s Tower, the site of a massacre of Jews in 1190.
David Thompson of DTZ, which is unconnected with the LandSec proposals, believes York is crying out for accommodation that can house larger requirements.
“As with all historic cities, the shop units are small and poky and so York is in desperate need of retail development,” he says.
LandSec’s proposed scheme stretches across the River Foss and would include a 110,000 sq ft (10,220m2) department store, as well as 180,500 sq ft (16,720m2) of shops and offices.
Huddersfield
Beatties, Dixons, TK Maxx, Miss Selfridge and Wallis are among the retailers now trading from the 300,000 sq ft Kingsgate shopping centre in Huddersfield, which opened in March.
WD Huddersfield is the developer of Kingsgate, in conjunction with Kirklees council.
“The scheme will help to consolidate Huddersfield’s retail offer and will improve the area around King Street,” says DTZ’s David Thompson.
Wakefield
Capital Shopping Centres’ Ridings Centre in Wakefield recently started trading on Sundays and has received a minor overhaul involving new signage and colour scheme to mark the occasion.
Marks & Spencer and the centre’s Arcadia outlets, including Top Shop and Miss Selfridge, have also been refurbished.
