Sevenstone is the marketing name of the project formerly known as the New Retail Quarter/NRQ which involves the demolition and rebuilding of an area of Sheffield, England between the Devonshire Quarter and The Moor Gateway. Sheffield City Centre has suffered from the collapse of steel making and then the opening of the Meadowhall shopping centre. The idea of the NRQ is to promote Sheffield as a regional retail destination and rival other centres including Leeds and Manchester. Located to the west of Pinstone Street, between Barkers Pool and Moorhead, the New Retail Quarter will cover a 20-acre site in the heart of Sheffield and will involve a major re-design of this part of the city.
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The NRQ covers the relocation of John Lewis, use of the old store as a two-tiered shopping mall with covered streets and the pedestrianisation of the centre and Charter Row, whilst creating Charter Square. The development also covers improvement of the infrastructure, new shops, apartments and a multi-storey car park. The project will require demolition of several buildings such as the Grosvenor House Hotel, but will also preserve some listed buildings in the vicinity.
The £600m New Retail Quarter, masterplanned by architects BDP, will create a shopping and leisure environment in the heart of the city with a mixture of uses. 860,000 sq ft (80,000 m2) of retail space will be created, including a 269,000 sq ft (25,000 m2) John Lewis department store[1], designed by multi-award-winning architects O'Donnell + Tuomey[2], a new 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) Next store, the remainder being around 100 new shops. In addition, up to 200 residential flats, a health club and leisure facilities, and a ten-storey car park with 1,696 spaces will be provided.[3]
Burgess Street will be realigned by redirecting it down towards the bottom of Barkers Pool as appose to its current position parallel with Cambridge Street. The new street will be provisionally named New Burgess Street.
For this and other new parts of the city, architects from around the world will design a number of new buildings.
The intended start on site in 2010 will include the demolition of the Wellington Street fire station. The first retail buildings, including the new John Lewis store were due for completion in 2011,[4] but the funding wasn't secured till 2011.[5]
The second phase is due for a 2013 completion.
Work has already begun off-site. Enabling works (that is, providing the gas, water, electrical and telephone infrastructure) began in March 2006 on the roads surrounding the new site, including Division Street, Moore Street, Charter Row and others.[6]
On the 12 October 2007, developers Hammerson unveiled the official marketing name for the NRQ as Sevenstone.[7] The branding was welcomed by business and political leaders in Sheffield.[8]
In March 2008, a 3-day public exhibition displayed the plans for Sevenstone in Sheffield City Centre. Local press described the reactions of Sheffield citizens to the plans as 'mixed'.[9]
On 29 January 2009 the Sheffield Star reported that the project had been put on hold indefinitely, based on an interview with Creative Sheffield (the city's regeneration company) who retracted the statement the following day.[10] Creative Sheffield remain "optimistic" that Sevenstone will begin in 2010, though Hammerson's maintain there is currently no start date and Sheffield City Council does not believe work will commence until 2011.[11] The funding was only just secured in 2011, but the council is now sure it will go ahead.[12]
On the 17th June 2010 the coalition government announced the suspension of £12m of central funding toward the project. [13] On March 15th 2011 Sheffield City Council announced that it was taking out a £10 million loan to kick start the stalled development. The money plus a further £10 million contributed by the developers Hammerson would be used to part finance the compulsory purchase of all the empty shops and land needed to build the scheme. If the council's cabinet authorises the loan, construction of the Sevenstone scheme is expected to start in late 2013 or early 2014.[14]
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