Development close to Edgar Street Approved

Approval has been given to Stanhope by Herefordshire Council this afternoon for the £80m development of the livestock market area opposite the Edgar Street football ground.

The 310,000 sq ft scheme will include a new department store, a Waitrose food store and a six-screen Odeon cinema.

The development will not take the form of a traditional shopping centre, but a series of open streets, which will include the creation of new public realm spaces. The entire project will be wholly funded by the private sector.

Alistair Shaw, retail development director at Stanhope, said: “Over the past three years Stanhope and our wider team have lived and breathed this project and we feel that the application now approved by the council will bring Hereford the first rate leisure and retail facilities it deserves.”

Stanhope was chosen by the council to develop the scheme in 2007 but in 2009 the scheme was scaled back from 450,000 sq ft to 310,000 sq ft due to market conditions.

In October 2010, Stanhope publically exhibited its revised plans for the scheme, which saw a reduction in the amount of retail space and the inclusion of greater measures to ensure better connectivity between the old livestock market site and Hereford’s existing retail core.

Stanhope will look to commence work in early 2012 with a view to completion in autumn 2013.

Source: Property Week

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