Work restarts on Barnsley’s multi-million pound Glass Works regeneration

The scheme was due to be completed next April, but work stopped as social distancing measures were introduced to protect staff, which has delayed the project.

Once completed, the Glass Works is expected to include a 13-screen cinema multiplex , a bowling alley, a Nando's restaurant and retailers such as Next and Sports Direct.

Sarah Norman, council chief executive, said: “There are two obvious impacts of the pandemic already, the first of those is there has been some delay to the construction.

“There was a short period where they ceased construction while they were working out how they could do it in a socially-distanced way.

“They have now restarted construction for a few weeks, they have put all sorts of social distancing arrangements in place to keep the workforce safe, but we have inevitably lost some time and at the moment they are not yet working at full productivity.

“In addition, we need to understand the impact on the leasing of the scheme, both in terms of the organisations we'd already concluded lease arrangements with, and the organisations we were seeking to get into these arrangements.

“There will be a detailed report coming to cabinet at the end of the month.

“I can say we've had some positive discussions already with the likes of Cineworld and we can be confident that, although there will need to be some changes to the scheme, I genuinely believe the scheme will be a success.”

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