Coventry’s long-delayed City Centre South regeneration scheme has taken a step forward with the appointment of an investment partner. Shearer Property Group has announced that it has selected the Hill Group as its development/funding partner for the huge retail, leisure and residential project which will transform Coventry’s historic city centre.
Shearer Property Group says the Hill Group has committed “significant investment” into Shearer Property Regen Ltd (SPR), the development entity delivering the £450 million mixed-use regeneration scheme. The plans will see significant parts of the city’s post-war city centre heritage demolished to make way for the scheme.
Outline planning permission for the high-rise scheme was granted in April 2021 despite objections from the Coventry Society, the Twentieth Century Society and national commentators. The developer is now working with the City Council to submit a series of detailed planning applications and aims to start on site in the summer of 2023.
The developer says it will include an extensive selection of retail, hospitality, leisure, and healthcare facilities. They have pledged it will be designed to attract people back into the city to live, work and play, including graduate students from Coventry University and the University of Warwick.
Shearer Property Group says its aim is to create a socially and commercially successful district in Coventry.
The residential aspect is set to feature a range of homes comprising studios, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments available to buy or rent. SPR says architects Allies & Morrison have been appointed to “provide inspirational architecture and landscaping which reimagines this part of the city, but carefully respects and enhances the existing heritage of the city and Grade II listed buildings”.
The residential element will feature a combination of communal gardens and private balconies, with all properties incorporating the latest energy efficient and sustainable technology. Shearer Property Group has previously said the scheme will feature new homes, a hotel, cinema, shops and restaurants along with co-working and community spaces.
Andy Hill, group chief executive of the Hill Group, said: “We are delighted to have been selected to deliver a vibrant new district in this historic part of the city. Our experience in urban regeneration and expansion will enable us to provide an inspirational destination that appeals to residents and visitors alike.
“From my first visit, I was overwhelmed with the ambitions for this city, and excited by the prospect of delivering the missing ingredient – new high quality homes that bring living back into the heart of Coventry.”
Hill Group have made no mention of affordable housing. Although the outline application was approved without affordable housing, Coventry’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Cllr Jim O’Boyle, promised the Planning Committee that the final scheme will include it.
Guy Shearer of Shearer Property Group added: “After an extensive selection process for a residential partner, we are delighted to be supporting the council in partnership with Hill, who have a complementary skill set to ours. They are a stand-out private organisation with a superlative track record in designing and building a quality residential product.
“City Centre South is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a top 12 UK city to deliver a game-changing project which will bring about the long-anticipated renaissance of a great city.”
The Coventry Society objected to the scheme as it destroys important parts of the city’s post-war heritage, did not include affordable housing, had no plan for retaining the centre’s independent retailers and would result in a high-rise development that could be anywhere. With the growth in online retailing and the movement of many jobs to working at home, the scheme is regarded as a high-risk development.
