Today’s official opening of Grand Central shopping centre represents a hugely significant moment both for Birmingham and for UK retail.

Today’s official opening of Grand Central shopping centre represents a hugely significant moment both for Birmingham and for UK retail.

The scale and ambition of the project, and the way that it has been delivered, raises the expectation of what can be achieved in retail developments, particularly around transport hubs. 

In one centre, Grand Central unifies the two trends that have emerged in UK retail over the past few years – convenience-led retail and destination retail.

Its location in the redeveloped New Street train station means that it will achieve very high levels of footfall by virtue of its proximity to the train station and pivotal retail location between the prime retail pitches in the city.

However, it is the ambition embodied in the design, the scale, the tenant mix and the restaurants that pushes Grand Central into a destination in itself.

Another league

Of course retail and transport have combined successfully before, with the trend for quality having been pioneered at airports. But train stations have lagged behind, often constrained by a lack of space. That has now changed forever.

London’s St Pancras and the King’s Cross started the process but Birmingham’s Grand Central is in another league altogether.

“Birmingham is now transformed not just for consumers, but also for retail investors and occupiers”

John Percy, Cushman & Wakefield

The 500,000 sq ft centre brings a new full-line 250,000 sq ft John Lewis department store to Birmingham and a premium tenant line-up including Hobbs, The White Company, Cath Kidston, Fat Face, Joules, Kiehl’s, L’Occitane, Pylones and Monsoon Accessorize.

It also boasts a vibrant dining and cafe offer with more than 20 food and beverage operators, including Carluccio’s, Handmade Burger Co, Giraffe and Yo! Sushi, as well as new offerings to Birmingham including Tapas Revolution, Caffe Concerto, Pho, Tortilla and Crepe Affaire.

This is an enormous success story for Birmingham, not just in terms of what the shopping centre offers the city and its visitors, but also in the confident and modern image that the city now projects to people arriving in Birmingham when they first step off the train.

‘Can do’ attitude

As the fastest growing city in the country, Birmingham is attracting more company headquarters and a greater talent pool of young professionals in search of a vibrant lifestyle in a more affordable setting.

Birmingham now boasts a scheme anchored by John Lewis, which directly complements the hugely-successful adjacent Bullring and other developments within the city. Birmingham is now transformed not just for consumers, but also for retail investors and occupiers.

The fact that the scheme has been successfully delivered is testament to the ‘can do’ attitude of the project partners. Birmingham City Council, Network Rail and the other partners have not been afraid to think big at every stage of this process. As with any scheme there have been plenty of moments when they could have taken a different, less ambitious course.

From the outset, with the appointment of architects Foreign Office, the partners set out a statement of intent as to scale and quality of what they wanted to achieve for the city. The delivery of the subsequent development milestones – the purchase of the former Pallasades shopping centre and the extension of the scope of the project to include John Lewis – all contributed to the end product. If they had faltered, it would have lessened what could have been achieved. 

Other cities will be looking at Grand Central and thinking about what they can deliver. HS2, the new high-speed rail network, will result in major new terminuses across the UK and retail must now be a more significant focus, with the scale of what can be achieved clearly demonstrable. That will also be the case for existing stations when thoughts turn to redevelopment.

That is a direct result of Grand Central showing what is possible – and the result can only be positive for the retailer and the consumer. 

  • John Percy is head of retail and leisure development at Cushman & Wakefield
  • Cushman & Wakefield has been advising on Grand Central for the last seven years, helping the partners develop and then implement the masterplan and leasing strategy for the project. The firm’s role has encompassed development consultancy, land assembly and leasing.