Green light for major York leisure and retail scheme

Legal & General has agreed to fund a new £35M leisure and retail scheme in York. Known as the Vangarde leisure scheme it will include a new 13 screen IMAX Cineworld cinema alongside restaurant and retail units.

The Vangarde leisure scheme forms part of the wider regeneration of the Vangarde development by Wrenbridge Sport in a consortium with the City of York Council and Greenwich Leisure.

The wider scheme also includes more steel related work with the construction of a new 8,000 seat stadium for York City FC and a leisure complex community hub comprising sports hall, 25m swimming pool and gym.

Richard Arnold, Managing Director of Wrenbridge Sport, said: “Now we will turn our attention to delivery and our contractors are already preparing to start construction with the aim of completion of the stadium in June 2019. At same time we will be building the cinema, leisure, retail and restaurants adjacent to the stadium. It really is a great project for the City of York.”

Andrew Ferguson, Senior Fund Manager at LGIM Real Assets, said: “Good-quality leisure developments in the UK are still relatively rare. The chance to fund a brand new scheme, anchored by Cineworld, in an important growth city such as York is a great opportunity for the Leisure Fund.

“This investment is also another example of how we can unlock development opportunities through our private capital by working in partnership with existing developers and with a proactive and collaborative local authority.”