| Location | Bradford, England |
|---|---|
| Opening date | TBA |
| Owner | The Westfield Group |
| No. of stores and services | 77 |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | westfield.com/bradford |
Westfield Bradford is a planned leisure and shopping complex in Bradford, England. In preparation for the project a number of buildings, mainly dating from the 1960s, were demolished on Forster Square and major shopping street Broadway.
By 2006 demolition work had freed for development a site encompassed by Hall Ings, Well Street, the new Lower Kirkgate and Charles Street.[1] In April 2010, after several years in which no construction had taken place, the project was mothballed and work began on creating a temporary park on part of the site.[2]
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In 1998 the Forster Square Development Partnership was established between Magellan Properties, Caddick Developments and Bradford Metropolitan District Council. They planned a 51,096 m² (550,000 sq ft) shopping centre containing Debenhams, BHS, Marks and Spencer and 100 shops and other leisure facilities.[3] (BHS already had a store in Broadway which was demolished as part of the demolition of the previous development on the site). The partnership sold it to Stannifer which was bought out by the Westfield Group in December 2004.[4]
Planning permission for the development was awarded approved on 10 September 2003 with the claim that 3,000 new jobs could be created.[5] Demolition on the Forster Square site started on 18 March 2004 and by mid 2006 the site was empty apart from a large pile of rubble. It was originally hoped that the complex would be open by late 2007[5] (with construction commencing in early 2006[4]), but with a lack of anchor tenants and with many workmen still working on Westfield Derby, the start date for construction was pushed back.[6] The delays lead to Bradford Council threatening to take back control of the site from Westfield, if progress wasn't made.[6]
On 7 February 2008 it was revealed that BHS had cancelled its plans to open within this development,[7] meaning that Bradford would not have a replacement for the BHS store which closed in 2004 as part of the demolition. Arcadia Group have also signed up for stores, which include their Topshop, Topman, Evans, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Wallis and Miss Selfridge brands.[8] Some of these stores already exist on Darley Street, elsewhere in Bradford city centre.
Next has signed up for a 2 floor store within the centre. Its existing store in Forster Square will remain open.[9] Marks and Spencer have also signed up[10] - it is unknown whether the existing store on nearby Darley Street will remain. The jewellery chain Beaverbrooks was expected to take up tenancy.[10]
In February 2010, almost 6 years since the start of demolition, Bradford Council announced a plan to convert part of the construction site into a temporary park.[11] The park would include new footpaths, seating, grassed areas, urban allotments and a performance area[11] The funding for the park scheme was provided partly by central government, as part of a fund to help local councils invest after recession, Yorkshire Forward, and the developers Westfield. Work began on the park in April.[2] The park is a temporary measure; in its 2009 financial results, Westfield stated that it was continuing pre-development activity on the scheme.[12]
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