ESG cutting Retail Quarter by Half

The 'big' departmental store or supermarket that is to be the prime attraction of the new Hereford shopping centre has been cut in size according to the R&R website

The floor space of the Hereford Retail Quarter scheme's main department store, originally planned at 7,430 to 11,150sq metres, will be halved, according to Jonathan Bretherton, chief executive of public sector partner ESG Herefordshire.

Stanhope, the developers, is to shrink the scheme's overall size from 41,805sq metres to between 18,580 and 23,225sq metres, Bretherton added.

Meanwhile ESG Herefordshire will promote their new plans for an extra road, which will run close to Hereford United's Edgar Stadium, at a display at Hereford Shire Hall this evening (monday) from 5pm to 9pm.

There will be a short presentation of the plans followed by a question and answer session with members of the design team regularly throughout the evening.

For those unable to attend the open meeting, the plans will be on display in a caravan in High Town for a week from February 8, at the ESG Info Centre in the Butter Market, and in county libraries and info centres. The exhibition caravan will also visit the market towns.

Jonathan Bretherton, chief executive of ESG said: “Ridding Hereford of the terrible traffic snarl‐ups created by the inner ring road is the first step in the vision to create an extended and thriving city centre. I urge everyone with an interest in the city’s future to attend the open meeting on the 8th of February and examine the proposed options for themselves.”

Meanwhile it has been revealed that Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust which built the new district general hospital in Hereford with a capital value of £64 million is due to continue making payments until 2032, and will eventually pay £464 million because of the Private Finance Initiative, which is used by the Government to pay for the developments.

UPDATE: We have been asked to clarify the above paragraph on the cost of Hereford Hospital.

The PFI deal is indeed over a long period, if it had been financed from public funds, the depreciation period for the hospital asset would also have been over a long period. To quote £464m without explanation gives the impression that this is the PFI cost of the capital project over time. Infact the PFI deal provides many non clinical services to the Trust which are part of these payments. The proposal went through an extensive appraisal to ensure it represented value for money at the time.

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