Work completes on £35m retail park
Pictured (L-R): Richard Else, Whittam Cox Architects; Andrew Dabbs, Whittam Cox Architects; Andy Bruce, GMI Construction Group; Dan Murray, St James Securities; Jack Proctor, Rex Procter & Partners
Work has completed on a new £35m Sheffield retail park, which is set to become home to Next, M&S Foodhall and Aldi.
Acting as main contractor, GMI Construction has officially handed over St James Retail Park in Norton to St James Securities and NFU Mutual who have pre-let 100 per cent of the 146,000 sq ft scheme ahead of opening.
Occupiers of the 13 units will include Next, M&S Foodhall, Aldi, TK Maxx, Superdrug, Homesense, Wilko, Pets at Home, Mountain Warehouse, Shoezone, Card Factory, Specsavers, Greggs and Costa.
GMI created 124 jobs on the scheme during the 56 weeks construction period. Works involved full demolition of the former Norton College building and new infrastructure works for more controlled access to the site.
Dan Murray, construction director at St James Securities, said: “The project has been a huge success achieved through a lot of hard work by all the team who should all be very proud of what we have delivered here.
“The first class design together with the Park’s superb ring road location has made the development very attractive to tenants allowing us to fully let the scheme ahead of practical completion.”
Andy Bruce, managing director of GMI Construction Group, added: “We are delighted to complete this project working closely with St James Securities and delivery partners Whittam Cox Architects and Rex Procter & Partners. We completed the project exactly to schedule despite the challenges of working in a live environment, close to a main road, leisure centre and school, where pedestrian and traffic management were critical.”