Inside Sheffield's new Radisson Blu hotel as £470m city centre regeneration scheme progresses

It is a key plank in the city council-funded Heart of the City scheme, which has been gradually transforming the town centre with new office space, homes, restaurants, shops, Europe's largest purpose-built food hall and a public park.

The council has been working with strategic development partner Queensberry to deliver the regeneration scheme after a previous retail-led proposal called Sevenstone and involving developer Hammerson was scrapped in 2013 in the wake of the global financial crisis after years of problems and delays.

Radisson is operating under a management agreement with the council to run the 154-bedroom hotel on Pinstone Street

Sean McClean, director of regeneration and development for Sheffield City Council, told The Yorkshire Post: “Heart of the City is a £470m scheme the council has brought forward and the Radisson hotel is a significant part of that.

"It is about providing what will be the premium hotel in the city centre and something there is a shortage for.

"When the council went out to market, we had significant interest from a range of operators and we are really pleased to be working with Radisson to bring it forward. I’ve got to know the Radisson team and I'm sure they are going to make a phenomenal success of it and it will be a fantastic addition to the city centre offer.

"There are not a great deal of hotels of this quality in the city centre. It is giving people somewhere different to come and eat with a fantastic balcony and sights over the city. The hope is it will become one of the places to be in terms of people having a special night out or a celebration meal in the city centre.

"It builds on everything else we have done. It is about driving footfall and giving people a reason to come back into the city centre. The numbers of people we have seen come into the Cambridge Street Collective food hall have been phenomenal.

"This is the first of a new type of city centre regeneration as we move away from being retail-dominated.”

Mr McClean said the recently-opened food hall attracted around 70,000 visitors on its first weekend and was continuing to perform strongly.

"They are people who would not necessarily have been in the city centre before. We are starting to see an uplift in numbers and people have got a reason to come back into the city centre which they may not have done for some time.”

He said he believes perceptions of Sheffield city centre are starting to change.

"I’d like to think so. We’re starting to see on social media where historically there may have been some negativity there are others starting to champion the message that if you’ve not been in the city centre, come in and have a look and see it is a very different place.

"There’s now facilities for everyone – families, for people who want to live and work here and with this hotel, somewhere high quality to stay.”

He said while it has been a long wait for Sheffield city centre to be transformed, it has meant plans have been able to evolve to create something more modern and cohesive.

"The original plans would have been very much retail-dominated. This is the first of a new type of city centre regeneration. There is a true masterplan to link it together and construction activity will finish this month as the Leah’s Yard scheme completes and opens in August.

"There have been challenges and delays but that’s the nature of construction and hopefully people will see the wonderful changes we have delivered.”

Work is continuing on a parallel £30m scheme to improve the rundown Fargate shopping street that Mr McClean said will be “substantially complete” by Christmas.

He said the long-term success of the Heart of the City project should not just be judged in financial terms.

“Ultimately it is about bringing people into the city centre. Yes we need the revenue to cover the cost of the running but it is not purely about the finances.

"The reason the council stepped in is because of market failure and if the council hadn’t stepped in, then we may still have been where we were 10 years ago.

"Yes there’s getting the units let, getting the income in but it is about generating the footfall and generating other developments that follow on. The council wants to see 36,000 new homes, 20,000 of which we see being in the central core area. Critical to that is having things like parks, high-quality facilities and places where people can work, stay and play in the city centre. It is about changing the perception of the city centre.

"For me, I’m born and bred in Sheffield so delivering schemes in your home city is always fantastic. When you go out and about on an evening or weekend and see something you’ve been involved in, you get immensely proud of that. It is being part of something special and a change that has been in the offing for a long time.

"There are lots of exciting things we are doing that are going to change the fortunes of Sheffield city centre and this is the first bit.”

Tom Flanagan Karttunen, Area Senior Vice President Northern & Western Europe, Radisson Hotel Group, said: “The opening of Radisson Blu Hotel, Sheffield, marks a significant milestone for us and the city. This is the first new hotel in the city for many years. We are excited to bring a touch of Blu to the UK’s greenest city, at a prime location for leisure guests, corporates and meeting and events.”

Andrew Davison, Project Director at Queensberry, added: “Radisson Blu is recognised across the globe for its quality and style, and perfectly reflects the ambition and impact of Heart of the City. A lot of hard work has gone into making this hotel a reality and I’m incredibly proud of Sheffield Council, Queensberry and the whole project team.”