Meadowhall Centre
Coordinates: 53°24′52″N 1°24′39″W / 53.414430°N 1.410949°W
|
Meadowhall logo | |
| Location | Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 4 September 1990 |
| Owner |
British Land (50%) Government Pension Fund of Norway (50%) |
| No. of stores and services | 280 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 10 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,500,000 sq ft (139,355 m2) |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Parking | 12,000 spaces[1] |
| Public transit access | Meadowhall Interchange |
| Website |
meadowhall |
Meadowhall is an indoor shopping centre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It lies 3 miles (5 km) north-east of Sheffield city centre and 2 miles (3 km) from Rotherham town centre. It is the largest shopping centre in Yorkshire and the eighth largest in the United Kingdom.
The Meadowhall Retail Park is a separate development, owned by British Land, lying almost 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south of Meadowhall shopping centre in the Carbrook area of the city.
The shopping centre
History and facts
The shopping centre was built by Bovis[2] on the site previously occupied by a steelworks.
The centre was opened on 4 September 1990. With a floor area of 139,355 m2 (1,500,005 sq ft), it is the tenth largest (second largest when first opened) shopping centre in the UK. It is similar in concept to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre at Brierley Hill in the West Midlands, which was completed just before Meadowhall.[3]
With over 280 stores, Meadowhall has been widely blamed for the closure of shops in Sheffield City Centre and in Rotherham.[4] Meadowhall is owned by British Land, a property developer. The centre attracted 19.8 million visitors in its first year of opening, and now attracts about 30 million visitors a year.[4]
Scenes from the music video of the Sheffield-based duo Moloko's first single "Fun For Me" were shot in the Oasis area of the shopping centre.
Meadowhall can be very busy in the run-up to Christmas, and the January sales. In extreme cases the centre has been known to have a one in, one out policy at some stores. This has led to the centre earning the nickname Meadowhell among many local people.[4]
One of Meadowhall's largest stores of the past was Sainsbury's which closed in mid-2005. There was a Namco Station arcade which closed in September 2007 after more than 15 years at the shopping centre. In December 2005, Meadowhall became home to the fifth Apple Store in the UK, and in late 2007, it became home to the third Puma Store in the UK after London and Glasgow. The centre was also home to the only McCafé in Yorkshire,[5] which has since closed. The centre's Burger King was replaced in October 2007 by a very small franchise called "Burger Knight", which has also closed.
Meadowhall was inundated by the River Don during the June 2007 floods, with water peaking at 1.8 metres (6 ft). The centre re-opened and trading commenced within six days, before fully relaunching in October 2007.
In May 2012, British Land announced that planning permission had been sought to provide a 52,000 sq.ft. retail extension to Meadowhall on adjacent land.[6]
In October 2012, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) announced that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global has bought 50 percent of the UK shopping centre Meadowhall for £348 million, or approximately 3.2 billion Norwegian kroner.[7]
In 2015 Meadowhall celebrated its 25th anniversary, and announced in the same year a £50m interior refurbishment, which allow some retailers to install double-height shop fronts. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017.[8]
Shops
Meadowhall has over 280 stores, most of which are major high street stores, including Armani Exchange, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Primark, Zara, Topshop/Top Man, Next, USC, Burtons, Dorothy Perkins, BHS, Republic, Marks & Spencer, Blue Inc, Tucci, Miss Selfridge, Officers Club, Foot Locker, JD Sports, H&M, Waterstones, HMV, Apple Store, Game, Boots, Superdrug and Barratts.
Fashion labels have their own stores in Meadowhall including Hugo Boss, French Connection, Bench, G-Star Raw, Super Dry, River Island, Jane Norman, Timberland, Ted Baker, Jack Wills, AllSaints, Hollister and more.
The Lanes is an area next to the Oasis Dining Quarter which includes small independent shops.
Oasis Dining Quarter and cinema
The Oasis Dining Quarter is Meadowhall's food court which has food outlets and seating on both floors. The ground floor contains mostly fast food outlets including McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Shere Khan and El Mexicana but includes restaurants Nando's and Harvester. The upper floor consists mostly of restaurants including Frankie & Benny's, Coal Grill And Bar, PizzaExpress, Wagamama, Hand Made Burger Co, Zizzi and T.G.I. Fridays. In July 2011 following the opening of T.G.I. Fridays, the food court underwent a £7 million redevelopment which saw it re-branded from 'Oasis Food Court', to 'Oasis Dining Quarter'.[9] Restaurants such as Las Iguanas, and Giraffe were added as part of the redevelopment.[10]
Vue cinema
The dining quarter includes an eleven screen Vue multiplex cinema. It opened as a Warner Village Cinema and was rebranded Vue as part of their takeover of the chain.
Transport connections
Meadowhall has a public transport interchange, Meadowhall Interchange, making it the only shopping centre in the UK that combines a bus, rail and tram interchange as well as making the centre accessible to both the local region and the rest of the country.
Motorway
The centre is located at junction 34 of the M1 motorway.
Sheffield Supertram
Meadowhall is linked to the Sheffield Supertram network and is the terminus on the Yellow Line. The stop is 15 minutes from the city centre and Meadowhall is used as a park and ride. The tram route from Meadowhall passes the Motorpoint Arena, Don Valley Stadium, Ice Sheffield, the Institute Of Sport and the Valley Centertainment entertainment complex.
Bus
The interchange has a large bus station with routes covering most of South Yorkshire, but especially the local Sheffield and Rotherham area.
Train
There is a multi-platform railway station at Meadowhall which has several routes including the Trans Pennine route to Manchester Piccadilly station.
Awards
The Centre has won awards, including two awards for innovative events at the ICSC maxi awards 2006, held in Chicago[11] and two awards for its Retail Bonding Programme (in best Retail Partnership category) and also for its commercialisation, (adding value to the customer shopping experience) at the BCSC Purple Apple Awards in London.[12]
Environmental policy
The centre recycles 97% of waste from retailers and customers, with the remaining three percent going to incineration with energy recovery; no waste goes to landfill.
Meadowhall was the first UK shopping centre to develop an on-site recycling facility. The Resource Recovery Centre, which opened in 2006, operates a conveyor belt system to separate out types of waste, from paper to plastic, cardboard to cans.
Meadowhall began to harvest rainwater in 2006. Four water storage tanks collect rainwater and condensation from air conditioning. This is then used throughout the Shopping Centre for cleaning, flushing toilets and watering the external landscaped areas. The tanks are nearly 7 metres high and hold some 6,600 imperial gallons (30,000 l) of water each.
In 2008 Meadowhall installed a bore hole. This is a narrow shaft drilled into the ground that collects water from beneath the earth. Water from the bore hole is collected into a master tank. The storage tanks are connected onto a "network", which will ensure 90-95% of all water used by customers and retailers for flushing toilets is derived from rainwater harvesting or bore hole water.
References
- ↑ "More about Meadowhall". meadowhall.co.uk. Meadowhall Centre. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ↑ "SED 2011 | Rockingham Motor Speedway, 17th - 19th May 2011". Contractjournal.com. 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Emerald | International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management | MEADOWHALL: ITS IMPACT ON SHEFFIELD CITY CENTRE AND ROTHERHAM". Emeraldinsight.com. 1991-12-31. doi:10.1108/EUM0000000002940. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- 1 2 3 "How Has Sheffield City Centre Changed Since The Development Of Meadowhall". Geographypages.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ Archived 10 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Insider News Yorkshire – Meadowhall extension plans move forward". Insidermedia.com. 2012-05-21. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Fund buys 50 percent of Meadowhall Shopping Centre in the UK - Norges Bank". Norges-bank.no. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-31939692
- ↑ "Home". Meadowhall. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Home". Meadowhall. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Home". Meadowhall. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Home". Meadowhall. Retrieved 2012-11-18.