Broadmarsh demolition date
SHOPPING CENTRE SITE WILL NOT BE CLEARED UNTIL MARCH 2022
THE remaining demolition of the Broadmarsh shopping centre now won’t be finished until the year after next, the city council has said.
The council has been awarded just under £8 million towards the demolition, but this is not due to get under way until April 2021, before completion in March 2022.
It comes as a new consultation is set to be launched next week, dubbed the ‘Broadmarsh Big Conversation.’
Work on the development was ‘paused’ at the start of the pandemic, but never got back under way.
Intu, the company which owned the shopping centre, went into administration, and transferred full ownership of the site to Labour-run Nottingham City Council.
The council has said it is ‘unlikely’ it will get back all of the £17 million it invested in the project, but the full extent of the damage is not yet known.
On top of that, the city council has been faced with new bills to keep the site safe, and to keep the pedestrian walkway through the demolition site open.
Now, Nottingham City Council is expected to approve a plan next week to start a ‘big conversation’ about what should happen next with the site.
Several ideas have been put forward by a wide range of groups, including for a park which would run from the new college site up to the soon-to-be-refurbished Nottingham Castle.
However, this could cause a significant drop in commercial income for the council, which under financial pressure.
Nelson Blackley is an independent Nottingham-based retail analyst, said: “The news is disappointing but probably not that surprising.
“Whilst in theory this is now time limited, it’s almost what Nottingham Civic Society described a few months ago as the worst of all situations with ‘the colossal eyesore of an abandoned building site for an indeterminate length of time.’
“Although they were successful back in August in getting almost £8m from the Local Enterprise Partnership this wasn’t designed to meet the total cost of flattening the site and so I suspect this March 2022 estimated completion date reflects the time now required to identify and secure other sources of funds.
“But this delay is bad news as everyone agrees that the half demolished shell is currently an enormous eyesore at the key southern entrance to the city centre.
“The council needs to agree an innovative, sustainable, affordable, and achievable plan, working with a wide range of partners.”
A spokesman for the city council said: “Broadmarsh is an extremely important site right at the heart of the city centre. It’s vital that we maximise its potential as part of the wider regeneration taking place in the city, bringing investment, creating jobs and improving the quality of life for local people.
“The withdrawal of intu from the site presents a financial challenge for the city council at a time when our budget is under immense pressure. Equally this is a great opportunity to look again at the plans for this key site taking into account different ideas.
“We will soon be starting our Big Conversation with the public about how we make something great for the city, allowing us to embrace this as an opportunity to build on and enhance the huge improvements that are still underway in Nottingham’s Southside.”