£300m Meadowhall extension planned to drive footfall to the mall

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 8, 2016

Property giant British Land has submitted a detailed planning application for the Meadowhall mall in Sheffield that could see an extra £300m spent on the centre. The plans aim to boost footfall dramatically with the addition of a giant Meadowhall Leisure Hall.

Meadowhall is already one of the most popular shopping centres in the UK with stores including AllSaints, Boss Hugo Boss, Radley, Debenhams, Ghost, Reiss, Karen Millen, Primark, Michael Kors and Kurt geiger among many others. It is currently undergoing a £60m revamp that should be finished by the end of next year.

The planned extension comprises a 330,000 sq ft multi-level space housed under a glazed roof, which will add dining and entertainment options, as well as internal and external spaces for events and community use. These include new restaurants, a state-of-the-art cinema to replace the existing cinema, a new café court, gym and additional leisure space to offer new experiences and activities. The plans also include a new open-air terrace that will allow visitors to dine outside.

The planning application comes at a tough time for UK retail as footfall to shopping centre proves sluggish in the face of online competition.

Last month, Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at footfall tracker Springboard, told Fashion Network that malls need to widen their offer in order to attract shoppers into their centres and to ensure the highest quality retail tenants sign up. She said many shopping centres “have become tired and [are] in need of an uplift” and that a shopper move “from buying fashion product to experiences,” has not been reflected in the mix at Britain’s malls.

British Land has clearly taken this message on board and also said that its plans for Meadowhall include a sustainability focus with solar panels planned for the roof of the new cinema to reduce carbon emissions and
to provide at least 10% of the Leisure Hall’s energy consumption. There will also be a number of areas of new planting to help reduce air pollution and aid bio-diversity including the new multi-storey car park’s ‘green walls’.

Sheffield City Council is expected to make a decision on the plans in spring 2017.