BROAD MARSH REGENERATION A modern tale in an ancient setting
- Phil Farrell
- Jun 9
- 8 min read
Updated: Oct 29
 | Phil is a director at property consultants JLL. He leads the development and public sector consulting teams across the East and West Midlands. He provides advice to the public sector on all aspects of development and property matters, including transactions, delivery structures and master plans. Phil has over 20 years’ experience in the sector including five years away from JLL working for Homes England and Solihull Council’s arm’s length vehicle – the Urban Growth Company. |
Nottingham features again in this case study of partnership working and community consultation. |
The legends of Robin Hood can be traced back to at least the 15th century, but they are still alive and well – would you believe that Hollywood is currently producing yet another new film with Hugh Jackman as the ‘evergreen’ hero?
I doubt the story of the Nottingham Broadmarsh development will still be retold 575 years from now, but for those of us involved, it has many of the attributes of a true saga: it has adversity, challenge, drama and heroes (or at least some experienced and well-intentioned property professionals, which is very similar in my opinion).
As a story for our times, I think Broadmarsh has lessons worth learning – how our urban areas still have to address the poor decisions of the past, how genuine regeneration takes time, dedication and resources, and that it can all still be achieved under the shadow of s114.
Some background is useful: like in many of our towns and cities, the post war clearance of poor quality dwellings and bomb damage in Nottingham had resulted in the construction during the 1970s of a huge shopping centre. The Broadmarsh Shopping Centre cut across many historic routes in the city, separated the main railway station from the city centre, and forced pedestrians into subways and bridges to ensure the car could dominate the environment. As with many of its ilk, the change in shopping habits and its dated environment left the Broadmarsh struggling and half empty by the early 2000s. Its owner, Intu, after many years of pressure from the council, and a number of aborted redevelopment plans, finally embarked in 2019 on a plan to transform it.
Nottingham City Council steps in
The enormous shopping centre was only part demolished when work paused due to Covid, and then ceased altogether as Intu slid in administration in June 2020.
Nottingham City Council held the freehold for Broadmarsh and in a very short period of time, moved from being a one third investor in the redevelopment, to having the virtual keys dropped into its reluctant hands and becoming fully financially responsible for a closed, half demolished 1970s liability.
It is worth considering that event. The City Council was already under the huge pressure of the Covid pandemic. It did not have a plan, a dedicated team, or a budget allocation for Broadmarsh, because it didn’t know it would need them. Broadmarsh was a high-profile eyesore and potential symbol of decline in the very heart of the city. Robin only had to face the Sherriff of Nottingham.
The two images show the hoarded Broadmarsh Centre to the right, with Nottingham Castle in the distance, hidden by a multi-storey car park; and the Broadmarsh Centre when the council inherited it.
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Like in all good representations of Robin (Errol Flynn, Michael Praed, Kate Lonergan) and the many more bad ones (Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Mel Brookes), we can gloss over the detail. No need to consider the cost and complexity of making the site secure, ensuring it was structurally safe, opening pedestrian routes, resolving all of the legal and title trailing wires left by the administration of Intu, dealing with third party interests. We can gloss over it here, but at the time it took hard work and skill, which the council staff have in abundance, and lots of spare money, which is markedly less abundant in any council.
This is where the story moves, in my mind at least, from development to regeneration. There is no accepted definition between the two, indeed most people would struggle to see the difference. I see development as the construction of buildings; regeneration is the creation, or re-creation, of communities, where the impact goes beyond just keeping the rain off residents’ heads, also to consider social cohesion, employment, civic pride, etc. - all those intangible, but invaluable benefits.
A plan is pieced together
The City Council embarked on an exercise to understand what their residents wanted to do with Broadmarsh by launching the ‘Big Conversation’, a widespread public consultation. Following this, they appointed Thomas Heatherwick to continue the engagement and translate the results into architectural concepts. The people clearly wanted something different from the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre – they wanted a new permeable quarter that would provide public spaces, community activities, and alternative retail and leisure.
A clear vision emerged. It had many detractors who were keen to point out the lack of financial viability in some of the concept images. But they missed the point. The vision was for a new, vibrant neighbourhood that linked the city north to south and east to east. A place where the civic and social life of the city could be conducted. A place for all of the people of Nottingham.
The first part of the jigsaw was put in place when the council secured funding through Transforming Cities for the construction of the Green Heart, a high-quality area of public realm at the centre of what will become the new development. The image shows the Broadmarsh Centre covered in hoarding, seen across the new Green Heart.
Developers who specialise in regeneration could see the opportunity. Oon behalf of the council, JLL carried out some focused soft market testing on the vision. The response was very clear, developers loved Nottingham, and could see the huge opportunity that Broadmarsh presented, but had concerns over the technical challenge of reusing the existing structure, and overall scheme viability.
To tackle these concerns and guide future development, the council decided to use the limited funds they had available, and some financial support from Homes England’s Markets, Partners and Place relationship team, to deliver a concept master plan and viability study. BDP (led by the redoubtable David Rudlin) was appointed to create the master plan, and JLL was appointed with Pick Everard to provide commercial and technical support.
Passionately directed by Paul Seddon, the City’s Director of Planning, the project team worked hard during 2023 to create a commercially viable master plan that re-opened the traditional street patterns, introduced new uses, and delivered the open space and community activity that the public consultation had focused on. As the master plan was finalised and we moved to considering delivery routes in November 2023, the news dropped that the council had issued the s114 notice.
Progress despite Section 114
The issuing of a s114 notice required under the 1988 Local Government Finance Act is often described in the press as bankruptcy. However, unlike when a private company goes bankrupt, a local authority still has to perform all of the functions it had to before the announcement. Essentially, life goes on as normal in the council, but with hugely increased scrutiny of budgets and achieving value for money [Ed – see full article on s114 notices in 2025 Spring Terrier].
For Broadmarsh, the immediate impact was negligible. We proceeded to complete the master plan and viability appraisals and ensured it was ready to launch at UKREiiF in Leeds in May 2024.
The challenge came when we considered how the master plan would be delivered. The working assumption until the s114 was issued was that the City Council would carry out some enabling works, potentially secure an outline planning consent, and then enter into some form of public–private partnership to deliver the scheme. In the new reality, the council could not commit to a process potentially costing millions of pounds in professional and legal fees. They were also concerned about the availability of their own internal staff resources.
This could have been the moment of high drama in any Robin Hood film. The Sherrif and his evil henchmen have the upper hand, and Robin and his plucky band have to retreat to Sherwood Forest in disarray. Thankfully, Nottingham City Council does not consult Hollywood scriptwriters. The council, its supporters and consultants, just rolled up our sleeves and looked at our options.
JLL was asked to produce an analysis of the potential delivery options for Broadmarsh. Working closely with the property and finance teams, we identified the council’s preferred outcomes, including the desire to be involved in key decisions, human and financial resource commitments, financial receipt, etc. All of the outcomes were then ranked and scored according to their importance to the council and the new reality of the s114 situation. We then considered all potential delivery structures and scored each against the council’s preferred outcomes.
It sounds relatively straightforward as a process, but required some difficult decisions. How do you score short-term financial pressures against the benefits of cohesive regeneration for the city and its people for generations to come? The key theme that emerged was perhaps contradictory – the council did not have the funds to deliver its vision for Broadmarsh, but the vision was too important not to be delivered. The council needed a delivery partner that understood that true value (financial and social) would be delivered through the implementation of a cohesive master plan.
A partner with a shared vision
Squeezing the last bit of life from the Robin Hood metaphor, enter Homes England from stage left, like King Richard in the film’s usual final scene. Homes England was not new to the project; it had supported the master plan with revenue funding and had regular engagement with the council on a range of matters. The difference now was it was being asked to purchase Broadmarsh and get involved fully in a complex mixed-use city centre regeneration project.
It is interesting to note how Homes England’s role (under its many previous names) has changed over the years. English Partnerships and the Homes and Communities Agency had major urban regeneration projects at their heart, but Homes England (renamed under one of the previous Conservative administrations) had largely been focused on suburban residential delivery. Starting under the Conservative ‘Levelling-Up’ programme, and continuing under the Labour Government, Homes England’s remit was expanded to again include mixed-use regeneration. Using the excellent example of Homes England’s recent involvement in York Central (another project JLL is involved in) all parties thought it was worth exploring Homes England’s acquisition of Broadmarsh.
JLL was appointed to negotiate the sale on behalf of the council, supporting Beverley Gouveia, the
Director of Transport and Planning and her small team at the council.
As with any deal covering nearly 14 acres of a city centre in the UK, there was no shortage of complexity. Again we can gloss over much of it, including the need to protect the ongoing agreement for the NHS to build a new diagnostic centre in part of the former shopping centre (including agreeing how to allow demolition of the shopping centre around a building containing extremely sensitive medical scanning equipment), and the legal team’s struggle to define the lease plan for the leaseback of the labyrinthine caves under the site, which also happen to be a scheduled ancient monument.
For information, and allowing any reader to log this time as CPD instead of docudrama, the issue of the caves plan was partly resolved by Mick Suggett, the council’s solicitor and team leader for conveyancing, contacting the Land Registry directly to ask it how the plan would need to be provided. This is a service the Land Registry offers to try and ensure that submissions to it are approved and that the ownership position is clear for future generations.
The sale finally completed on 31 March 2025. For all of the talk of public sector delay, it is worth noting that Nottingham City Council issued the s114 notice in November 2023. In the 16 months up to March 2025, it launched the Broadmarsh master plan, carried out an internal delivery options review, opened the Green Heart, progressed the sale of the diagnostic centre to the NHS, and negotiated a complex disposal to Homes England. A huge amount of work delivered on time and on budget, all while still doing the ‘day job’.
Homes England is now fully up to speed, putting huge resources behind the management, imminent demolition and upcoming delivery plan for Broadmarsh (re-labelled Broad Marsh by the parties to reflect its historic name pre-shopping centre). The City Council and Homes England are still fully engaged, working under the formal Collaboration Agreement (which JLL also negotiated for the council) and the people of Nottingham can look forward to seeing real progress on the most exciting development in the city in a generation.
The last word goes to Paul Seddon from one of our initial meetings with Homes England, “Richard III has been great for Leicester. If you happen to find a man buried with a bow during your enabling works that would be very welcome indeed.”
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