The Sheffield Retail Development Group (SRDG) was formed during a pivotal period for Sheffield city centre, as confidence in the original Sevenstone retail scheme weakened and wider changes in retail and city-centre economics were beginning to emerge.

Our view was that Sheffield needed more than another conventional shopping development. The city centre required a broader mixed-use approach capable of creating an active urban environment throughout the day and evening, combining retail, leisure, residential, workspace, culture and public realm within a single integrated masterplan.

Working with a privately funded and locally led team, we developed an alternative regeneration proposal centred around the Sevenstone area and adjoining opportunity sites.

The proposals included a new retail core anchored around John Lewis, alongside leisure uses, office accommodation, residential development, major civic spaces and extensive public realm improvements. Concealed parking provision was incorporated beneath the principal public areas in order to prioritise the pedestrian environment at street level.

Working with the main board of John Lewis Partnership, the proposals evolved and explored how the existing store could integrate into a broader mixed-use regeneration strategy for the city centre. At the core of this was a belieef that Sheffield needed to evolve beyond a purely retail-led model, while recognising that John Lewis remained critically important to the city centre’s wider economic confidence and identity.

Different approaches were needed to retail servicing, storage and the customer experience as online retail and changing consumer behaviour began to fundamentally reshape the sector. At the time, most city-centre regeneration still revolved around conventional retail models. The SRDG approach was broader and many of the principles underpinning the SRDG proposals - mixed-use development, residential city living, experiential destinations and culture-led regeneration - have since become mainstream components of successful urban regeneration strategies.

The project also involved internationally recognised composer and conductor Tolga Kashif, who worked with the group on proposals for a Yorkshire International Conservatoire alongside wider cultural elements within the regeneration strategy. The wider vision placed the Conservatoire as a major cultural and educational anchor within the city centre creating a uniquely vibrant and active civic environment extending well beyond traditional shopping hours. 

SRDG was chaired by John Crowther, former Chief Executive of Vickers Defence Systems and  Chief Executive of the Lawn Tennis Association.

The wider team included Chapman Taylor, Capita Symonds, KPMG, Central Retail, HR Media together with consultants spanning engineering, communications, retail strategy, planning and finance. 

The project involved brought together regeneration strategy, stakeholder coordination and multidisciplinary teams around a complex city-centre opportunity during a period of major structural change and the ongoing engagement with retailers, occupiers, investors, contractors and public stakeholders as the proposals developed.

SRDG demonstrated that there was both appetite and capability for an alternative approach to Sheffield city centre regeneration at a time of significant change for the retail sector and city centres more generally. Due to changes in the local authority's procurement methodology the 650,000 sq.ft. scheme was not progressed to its planned 2019 completion.