POLITICS
An opportunity to redefine a city centre landscape
It’s a huge concrete reminder of the pandemic’s impact on an already struggling retail industry, but the half-demolished Broadmarsh Centre in Nottingham also represents a rare opportunity to shape a city centre asset as its residents and businesses desire. As part of a public consultation into its future use, Nottingham Partners recently hosted a roundtable featuring key stakeholders on the future of the site, with Dan Robinson in attendance.
the Broadmarsh riddle. The future of the shopping centre
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that crowns the Broadmarsh area on the edge of Nottingham city centre, built across a thoroughfare between the railway station and Old Market Square, has been a headache for decades. After numerous false dawns, a
breakthrough had finally emerged as owner intu employed a contractor to knock it down ahead of a rebuilding job that would replace the concrete barrier with a more welcoming glass façade and reimagine the centre as a hub for both retail and leisure anchored by a cinema and bowling alley. But then Covid-19 struck, the contractor was
pulled off site as intu collapsed into administration and the lease was handed back to Nottingham City Council. Charged with responsibility of finding a future
purpose for the site, which won’t be clear of demolition until March 2022, the council held a 10-week consultation titled The Big Conversation to gather public opinion at the end of last year. Paul, chairman of the Marketing Nottingham
place marketing organisation that hosted a virtual roundtable in December to bounce off ideas, believes the 23-acre Broadmarsh development site doesn’t have to be a liability but can become an asset once more. “There can’t be another city in the country
that has what I’d call the opportunity to make this right that we have here in Nottingham,” he says.
Mel Barrett, who joined as chief executive of
Nottingham City Council in September 2020, adds: “This project is tremendously exciting given the scale and it will be defining, not just in terms of Nottingham, but regionally and nationally – while it will be of international interest.”
IN MANY WAYS, the Broadmarsh symbolises the juncture many cities find themselves at in a post- Covid world. With the consensus being that there needs to be far less dependence on retail space and
60 business network February 2021
“blot on the landscape”, a “running sore” and a “crater in the centre of Nottingham”. These are three phrases used by Paul Southby (pictured) as he introduces
The half-demolished Broadmarsh has been described as a city centre "crater"
The intu plans for the Broadmarsh Centre had included a cinema
uncertainty about how many workers will return to city centre offices, there’s a need for a bolder vision about their future purpose. Mel says: “Humans are social animals and
want the opportunities to be together. Once we’re beyond coronavirus, we’ll return to that and the ability for it to play a major part in redefining how we use city centres will be important.”
He also believes it’s crucial to consider the
“liveability” of city centres for not just young people, but families and older people. One of the prevailing desires developed
during lockdown for many people was a fondness for nature and an online petition calling for an open green space to be created instead of the Broadmarsh Centre development has been signed by 11,600 people.
CLARITY IS NEEDED TO SECURE INVESTMENT
A clear vision will be critical to enticing inward investment, believes the chief executive of Nottingham City Council. The council has already been awarded an £8m Government grant to
transform the Broadmarsh but private backers will also be needed to realise its full potential. Mel Barrett (pictured) says: “We need to be clear on what the
proposition is to create that sense of what’s possible for potential investors. “Clarity, consistency and certainty of decision-making are important if
people are thinking about putting risk money in place when they’ve got alternative choices for where they could put that investment.” Mel, who has worked on regeneration projects in London, Oxford and
Basingstoke, believes a long-term institutional finance package may be involved in funding any development schemes and admits he wouldn’t be surprised if a joint venture was formed between developers. Reflecting on his previous schemes, he adds: “Quite often, some of the foreign institutional
investors seem to be more alive to seeking opportunities. “Canadian and Japanese pension funds really do seem to enjoy that exposure to UK-based
investments, where our rule of law and stable environment mean they’re quite comfortable to long-term investments here.”
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