Mixed-use developments create opportunities in big cities

Mixed-use development is one of the most resilient sectors that is currently providing good new work opportunities for contractors.

Undeterred by high-interest rates, major developers are pressing ahead with significant schemes involving a mix of residential, commercial and leisure space, often on brownfield and former retail sites in big cities.

Landsec, the country’s largest commercial property group, is progressing a series of major mixed-use urban schemes around the country. It believes they meet a need to remodel various built-up areas to create thriving places and meet sustainability and work/life balance needs.

Centred on fast-growing urban areas with good transport links, Landsec has a 10m sq ft mixed-use pipeline in London, Glasgow and Manchester with a total development cost of around £5 billion. It plans to deliver a mix of residential, office and leisure schemes in these areas in phases over the next 10-15 years.

Work set to start

Today, Landsec has two major mixed-use urban neighbourhood schemes set to start over the next 12 months. At the former Mayfield Goods Yard in Manchester, the group aims to start with the first of two office buildings which will together provide 320,000 sq ft of space in an investment of around £150 million.

Amended plans have been submitted for a £76.85 million, 13-storey office building, Mayfield Quarter-The Republic, which includes flexible uses at ground and mezzanine levels – such as cafes, an art gallery and cinema/theatre - where work is set to start next spring (Project ID: 19385575).

It forms part of the wider Mayfield Quarter scheme which will eventually include a new railway station, nearly 268,000 sqm of office space, 5,000 new homes, over 25,000 sqm of retail/leisure space as well as hotel rooms along with public spaces (Project ID: 13296958).

Meanwhile, at Landsec’s O2 Centre mixed-use development in Finchley Road (pictured), in north London, detailed plans are understood to have been granted for a £150.4 million development of over 600 new homes. Work on the first phase of the scheme - which forms part of a masterplan involving 1,800 new homes, along with business and leisure space - is set to start next spring and run for four years (Project ID: 23103866).

Landsec also has significant mixed-use urban neighbourhood schemes in its long-term pipeline involving schemes at MediaCity in Greater Manchester (1,900 sq ft - Project ID: 04258734) at Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow (1,900 sq ft) and at Lewisham (1,800 sq ft) in South East London.

Meanwhile, British Land, a fellow FTSE 100 property group, is also pressing ahead with some major mixed-use schemes in inner cities. Its Canada Water scheme in East London is already on site with the first of three buildings involving 578,000 sq ft of mixed-use space.

But more significant new work is in the pipeline. Tenders have recently been returned on a £67.8 million mixed-use scheme at Canada Water Plot F at Surrey Quays Road in Southwark involving two residential towers - of 34 and 37 storeys - linked to a nine-storey office podium. The scheme will create 410 flats with balconies, a rooftop park above the offices and some 37,540 sq m of flexible workspace (Project ID: 21188204).

Landmark scheme

On another landmark mixed-use scheme in the capital, detailed plans have been granted for Telford Homes’ £100 million redevelopment of a Sainsbury's store in Ilford involving around 840 flats along with student accommodation and commercial space. Work on the scheme involving buildings up to 36 storeys is set to start early next year and run for 43 months (Project ID: 15403753).

Meanwhile, in the UK’s second city, a planning application for Landlease’s huge £1.9 billion mixed-use scheme at Birmingham Smithfield is understood to have been recommended for approval. Work on the project, which will involve some 3,000 residential units along with commercial, hotel and retail space across 190,000 sq m of space, is set to start at the end of this year and could run for over 10 years (Project ID: 15321175).

Some significant mixed-use schemes in the pipeline are providing new work opportunities elsewhere in the UK. In Swansea, work on a major £135 million commercial and residential scheme at the former St Davids Shopping Centre is due to start early in 2024. It will provide new homes, an office hub for the public sector as well as leisure and retail space with work set to run over 25 months (Project ID: 16190588).