Why it's so important to get this one right
THE lead story in last week's Telegraph dealt with recent planning applications relating to two components of the New Retail Quarter (NRQ]. It was timely coverage as the major re-development of Sheffield's city centre is now gathering pace. I am chairman of the planning board that will decide the planning applications which will move the NRQ from concept to construction.
NRQ will be an eight block development built in and around Barker's Pool, Pinstone St, Cambridge St, etc. A new John Lewis will be the anchor. NRQ will have a retail focus, but it will also involve offices, residential and car parking.
Overall responsibility for bringing NRQ on stream lies with the major European real estate developer, Hammerson plc, though there is an element of public funding involved. In recent months NRQ has acquired the name Sevenstone, for reasons best known to others.
The process of re-invigorating Sheffield's retail centre began almost a decade ago and has always had support from the council's two main political parties. My colleague, Coun Paul Scriven, the new Lib Dem Leader of the council, has emphasised his commitment to the NRQ. It is a view I fully endorse.
The idea underpinning the NRQ has, rightly, gained support across the political spectrum and beyond. Cities of our size need a successful centre and a key feature in this is a vibrant central retail area. In the past two decades Sheffield's central shopping area has suffered from a lack of investment and damaging competition from large retailing outlets away from the city centre. NRQ, therefore, is a golden opportunity to physically realign retailing in Sheffield and represents a level of investment that Sheffield's centre has needed for some time.
No one in Sheffield should have any doubt about the scale and importance of what is going to happen as the NRQ moves from the drawing board to construction in the next year or two. By any standards, NRQ will transform a key part of Sheffield's centre.
Thus far, much of the focus has been on economic projections, working up the concept and gaining outline consents. The next phase, which is just beginning, is where people in the city will start to see a physical change. However, before any of the eight blocks are built, they still have to go through the usual planning process to gain full consent. This is where the views of members of the public are heard and where the fine details of plans are looked at more closely.
Already full plans have been lodged for a number of the eight blocks and they are likely to be decided by the planning board I chair over the next couple of months.
Given the importance of what is going to happen in these next few months, it is critical that the planning process is genuinely open. People in Sheffield should know what is going on and be able to comment.
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Discussion needs to go beyond those professionals and specialists who, understandably, have been most closely involved in the concept stage, which is now drawing to a close.
Outlines and artist's impressions of what is proposed have been in the public realm in the recent past and Hammerson's, to their credit, put on an exhibition earlier this year.
Nonetheless, given that so much of the NRQ project is going to move forward rapidly, with such an impact upon Sheffield, it is critical that as much information as possible is available to members of the public.
To this end, I have requested that the council's IT boffins produce a 'cyber' exhibition dealing with the latest images of all the eight blocks that will form the eventual NRQ.
I am told that, from November 17, the council's website will have a user-friendly series of pages that will give an overview of the NRQ, including where the various blocks will be sited. More importantly, perhaps, will be the very latest computer generated images of what the various blocks will look like, though some of these views are more advanced than others.
The intention is that people in Sheffield will be able to gain a reasonable impression of what the architects have in mind for the eight blocks and be able to comment upon the designs. Full details of the website access should be available in the local press. I've also asked council officers to try to find space for a conventional non-cyber exhibition along the same lines as the 'virtual' one.
Now that the NRQ project is coming together, a series of planning decisions will occur in quick succession over the next few months.
A large car park on Wellington Street and the re-working of Pinstone St/Cambridge St will be decided later this month.
It is likely that next month will see an application decided for block 3, opposite the Peace Gardens. There will be more in the New Year.
If you've got a view on the design of the NRQ blocks, now is the time to be feeding it into the planning process. What we decide in the coming months will determine what sort of city centre our children and grandchildren will be look out upon.
Let's get this one right. These inter-connected buildings at the heart of our city will be here for some time to come.
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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