‘Heart of the City II’ – Next phase of transformative city centre announced

Sheffield City Council has announced the next phase of work to deliver its transformative city centre regeneration scheme known as ‘Heart of the City II’ – the new working title for the city centre development scheme formerly known as the Sheffield Retail Quarter.The Council’s bold new plans include proposals for the latest premium retail and leisure brands, contemporary office and residential space, and attractive world-leading public spaces.Construction on Phase One of the scheme, which includes the flagship new office to be occupied by HSBC, as well as almost 60,000 sq ft of retail space and high quality public spaces and squares, is well underway and on schedule for completion in 2019. There will be eight new retail units as part of this phase and talks to sign up the first major tenant are at an advanced stage.Building on the success of Phase One, Sheffield City Council and strategic development partner Queensberry will be presenting the updated masterplan to Cabinet for approval on 21 March 2018, with the key focus being on driving forward development of the scheme.Completion of Heart of the City II is expected to create around 500 construction jobs and the scheme should support between 5,500 and 7,000 jobs once built.It will also stimulate further development within the city centre and attract additional inward investment into Sheffield.Planning applications for the next three blocks are due to be submitted in early summer 2018, with public consultation beginning shortly after Cabinet, subject to approvals. The Council and Queensberry are keen to ensure that the next phase of work begins before Phase One opens in 2019.