Shopping mecca ushers in new retail era

The £260M Bradford Broadway shopping centre has opened more than a decade after construction first started on the city centre site.

Work began in 2004, but was halted due to the 2008 financial crisis, but last week (5 November) the 53,000m² project finally opened its doors to shoppers.

Council Leader David Green said the opening represents a ‘real landmark’ for the Yorkshire city and developer Westfield claims it will create 2,500 permanent jobs and boost footfall in the city by 40%.

The steel-framed project features two large anchor stores (Debenhams, and Marks and Spencer), car parking for 1,300 vehicles and more than 70 other shops, restaurants and cafes.

“As with many large retail developments, the Broadway scheme underwent a number of design changes at the request of tenants, while some even took place during the construction programme,” said Keith Whitmore, Westfield Head of Design & Construction. “Steel enabled alterations to be made easily and this was why it is ideal for retail projects.

“Most of the alterations were quite small, such as re-positioning lift and escalator penetrations in the frame, but moving a steel column or two is much easier than altering a concrete wall,” added Mr Whitmore.

Steelwork always contributes to a speedy construction programme and Broadway’s entire 6,800t steel frame was erected in just over 25 weeks by steelwork contractor Severfield. This was aided by Westfield’s decision to use only mobile cranes and not install any tower cranes on this project.

Using mobile cranes meant there were no gaps in the frame – where the tower crane would have been sat – that needed to be in-filled at a later stage, and this created a faster steel programme.