Cole Brothers Sheffield: Six 'exciting' proposals for old John Lewis store make final shortlist

The department store at Barker’s Pool in Sheffield city centre, which was previously home to Cole Brothers, has been empty since John Lewis closed the branch in 2021, with the loss of 299 jobs. Sheffield Council is selling the landmark building on a 250-year lease and had invited developers to submit their plans for the future use of the site.

The council today announced that six ‘high-quality proposals’ had made the final shortlist, following what it called a ‘strong response’ from developers. While it declined to provide details of those proposals, it said there was a ‘range of exciting options’ for the building’s refurbishment, which is key to the £470 million Heart of the City II regeneration scheme.

The council added that all six proposals were from ‘experienced developers with a strong track record of redeveloping similar buildings’ and involved retaining and enhancing the newly Grade II-listed building, with measures to improve its efficiency. Further analysis and discussion will be undertaken with the interested parties over the ‘coming weeks’, said the council, with a final decision on the preferred bidder set to be made by the Strategy and Resources Committee ‘as soon as possible’ after May’s local elections.

Councillor Mazher Iqbal, co-chair of Sheffield Council’s Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee, said: “I am very pleased to see progress being made on the Cole Brothers building and it is fantastic to see so many developers saw the potential of the site and our city.

“The building sits right in the middle of our £470m Heart of the City regeneration project and I can’t wait to see how it ties in with the rest of the brilliant work going on there and across the whole city. I look forward to seeing the final option for consideration.”

In total, 16 expressions of interest were received from developers keen on regenerating the building after the council invited applications in May 2022, having acquired the lease from John Lewis in January last year.

The council said that, since the building was listed in August last year, all the proposals had been drawn up following discussions with Historic England to ensure they are compatible with the listing.