- British Land: Yorkshire’s premier centre Meadowhall secured over 21,000 sq ft of new lettings and upsizes
London, 2016-Oct-22 — /EPR Retail News/ — British Land, joint owner of Meadowhall, Yorkshire’s premier centre, has secured over 21,000 sq ft of new lettings and upsizes in the last three months. The news comes as the first phase of Meadowhall’s £60m refurbishment nears completion.
Key highlights in the recent lettings activity include the signing of Ghost London, Nespresso, Hawes & Curtis, upsizes by JD Sports and Virgin Holidays, the return of The Entertainer, and the debut of two coffee brands:
- Ladies fashion house Ghost London will stock designer fashion and occasion wear from a 900 sq ft unit on Park Lane. Only the brand’s second standalone store outside of London, the boutique will showcase ready-to-wear, beachwear and the company’s dye-to-order bridal range
- Adjacent to Ghost, Hawes & Curtis is to launch a 900 sq ft store as it makes its regional debut at Meadowhall
- Completing a trio of additions on Park Lane is Nespresso, the market leader in premium portioned coffee, with a kiosk that opens later this month. The kiosk is the brand’s first in the region and stocks the full range of Nespresso products
- On Meadowhall’s High Street, leading sportswear and fashionwear brand, JD Sports, is increasing its store size to 11,400 sq ft from 9,500 sq ft
- Transatlantic tour operator, Virgin Holidays, is extending its interactive store concept on Meadowhall’s Arcade. The new store will enhance the customer experience and follows a very strong performance from the brand since it opened at the centre last year
- The fastest growing high street multichannel toy retailer in the UK, The Entertainer, will be returning to Meadowhall’s retail line up with a new 4,700 sq ft store located on The Arcade next to Virgin Holidays and opposite Laura Ashley
- Pret A Manger is launching a new 2,300 sq ft café, its first at Meadowhall, and Coffika, a new coffee concept, will be making its UK debut with a 900 sq ft café on the Arcade.
Completing the additions is a hat-trick of openings in the Oasis Dining Quarter, with Barburrito, Wrapchic and Subway all making Meadowhall debuts. In addition, Australian tea specialist, T2, independent modern gourmet confectioner, Treat Kitchen, and candy store, Gobstoppers, have recently opened at the centre.
Commenting on the recent signings and brand successes, Richard Crowther, Asset Manager for British Land, said: “As we continue to increase Meadowhall’s choice and variety, the mass of new signings is testament to our status as the number one shopping destination in the region. Securing brands for their regional debuts further strengthens our offering, whilst Meadowhall’s strong performance is also reflected by a growing trend amongst existing retailers to upsize.
“Combined, the new and improved retailers and catering brands make Meadowhall even more appealing to visitors from across the region.”
Touker Suleyman, Chairman of Ghost London, added: “Meadowhall is a great location for us. As a leading regional fashion and retail destination, it was the perfect choice for us to open our second standalone store outside London as part of our northern store portfolio expansion. We continue to grow the brand from strength-to-strength and the new site will become a top performer.”
Francisco Nogueira, Nespresso UK & Ireland Managing Director, commented: “Our consumers are telling us they want great accessibility to Nespresso boutiques so we’re thrilled to be expanding our retail offering and opening in Meadowhall. Over the past few years we have seen fantastic growth across the UK and we receive almost daily requests for more boutiques to open in the north of England.”
The news coincides with the first phase of the centre’s £60m refurbishment programme nearing completion, with both levels of The Arcade, from M&S to the iconic central dome benefiting from an extensive makeover.
Designed by leading international architect BDP, the renovation is revitalising the centre by updating and decluttering the malls. The extensive changes include new balustrades and handrails, redesigned ceiling bulkheads, as well as new seating, lighting, signage and wayfinding. The refurbishment is also creating distinct districts within Meadowhall, each with an offer and character of their own. In addition, the works will enable a number of retailers to install double height shop fronts. Conducted in a series of phases, Meadowhall’s transformation will be completed by the end of 2017.
Meadowhall’s letting agents are CBRE, Smith Young and Davis Coffer Lyons. Cameron Scott acted for Ghost London and Hawes & Curtis. JLL represented Virgin Holidays. JD Sports represented itself. Reid Rose Gregory and Freeth Brasier acted for The Entertainer and Gobstoppers respectively. Harris Lamb acted for Wrapchic. Burley Browne acted for Barburrito and Subway represented themselves.
About British Land
We are one of Europe’s largest publicly listed real estate companies. We own, manage, develop and finance a portfolio of high quality commercial property, focused on retail locations around the UK and London offices. We have total assets in the UK, owned or managed, of £20.0 billion (of which British Land share is £14.6 billion) as valued at 31 March 2016. Our properties are home to over 1,200 different organisations ranging from international brands to local start-ups. Our objective is to deliver long term and sustainable total returns to our shareholders and we do this by focusing on Places People Prefer. People have a choice where they work, shop and live and we aim to create outstanding places which make a positive difference to people’s everyday lives. Our customer orientation enables us to develop a deep understanding of the people who use our places. We employ a lean team of experts, who have the skills to translate this understanding into creating the right places, and we have an efficient capital structure which is able to finance these places effectively.
Retail assets account for 50% of our portfolio which is well matched to the different ways people shop today. We are focused on being the destination of choice for retailers and their customers by being the best provider of spaces and services. Comprising over 20 million sq ft of retail space across multi-lets, superstores, department stores and leisure assets, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats.
Our Office and Residential portfolio, which accounts for 48% of our portfolio, is focused on London. We have an attractive mix of high quality buildings in well managed environments and a pipeline of development projects which will add significantly to our portfolio. Increasingly, our Offices are in mixed-use environments which include retail and residential elements. Our 7.5 million sq ft of high quality office space includes Regent’s Place and Paddington Central in the West End and Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share).
The remaining 2% of our portfolio is at Canada Water where we have a 46 acre redevelopment opportunity in our medium term pipeline. Our industry-leading sustainability strategy is a powerful tool to deliver lasting value for all our stakeholders. By supporting communities, improving environments and growing economies, we create Places People Prefer and enhance long term returns.
In April 2016 British Land received the 2016 Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development as part of Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th birthday honours. The Award is the UK’s highest accolade for business success and is given to companies which bring major economic, social and environmental benefits through their own business success. It was awarded to British Land for continuous achievement in all these areas over the last five years.
Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com.
Enquiries:
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Jonathan Rae
020 7467 2938
British Land
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British Land
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British Land
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020 3514 2148
Source: British Land