Developer under pressure to start work on stalled project

An artist's impression of the original Sevenstone scheme in Sheffield

Lawyer Paul Firth, chairman of the Creative Sheffield marketing agency, said he fears that the delayed scheme is deterring other investors from the city centre.

John Mothersole, chief executive of the local authority, warned that the city “will not wait much longer”.

Hammerson’s latest update to the City included details on its plans for the Victoria Gate scheme in Leeds, but made no mention of Sevenstone.

Mr Firth described the delayed project as “the most serious issue facing Sheffield”.

“It’s such a big development and should provide so much employment,” he said. “The whole area around Sevenstone is looking dirty and run down and has been for some time. There was good reason for Hammerson to delay things when they did in 2008. But I don’t think there is now. I think they need to get on with it.”

Mr Firth added: “We can’t just sit there with 30 per cent of the city centre standing derelict. There’s that concern that if a large part of the city centre is just laid fallow no-one else will want to invest in the city centre until they see this large area being developed.”

It is understood that detailed, high level and possibly conclusive talks have been taking place between the council and Hammerson in recent weeks. These are expected to continue over the coming days.

The council declined to confirm if the scheme will go ahead with Hammerson or if there would be a parting of ways.

Mr Mothersole said: “We as much as anybody want to see this new retail scheme for Sheffield go ahead. We understand how complicated it is to get a scheme like this up and running. The new development deal that we did with the Government is a game changer and as far as we are concerned a new retail scheme for Sheffield will happen. We want it to be with Hammerson but as we have said before we will not wait much longer.”

Peter Cole, chief investment officer at Hammerson, said: “We have made a substantial investment to the Sevenstone scheme including works to assemble the site and relocating key infrastructure projects.

“We are now continuing to work with John Lewis on options for a new store and Sheffield City Council on funding involving the new development deal. This will then enable all parties to reach a firm conclusion on the way forward, which we all want to achieve as soon as we can.”