Cyril Sweett to pick from trio on £400m city shopping centres

Cyril Sweett is acting as QS on two major city centre shopping centres in Bristol and Leicester with a combined construction value of over £400m.

The two schemes build on the firm’s extensive experience in the retail market, which includes the landmark Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and the Kingsway centre in Gloucester.

The pair of projects are about to be tendered to the same three contractors, Sir Robert McAlpine, Bovis Lend Lease and Laing O’Rourke.

The trio will be asked to tender on the £233m extension of the Bristol Broadmead centre next week, and in early July for the £180m expansion of the Leicester New Shires facility in early July.

The client on the first scheme is a joint venture between listed developers Land Securities and Hammerson called the Bristol Alliance.

The project received a boost last month when the government cleared the way for a compulsory purchase order to take place to buy nearby land and buildings needed for the expansion.

The project, which received planning permission in December 2003, includes 139,350m2 of space and is due for completion in 2008.

Local sources claim that Sir Robert McAlpine is favourite for the Bristol project

The project’s masterplanner is Chapman Taylor and the team also includes Wilkinson Eyre which is designing a new car park and pedestrian bridge for the extension.

The Leicester project’s client is Hammerson and Hermes Property Asset Management and includes 60,000m2 of new space, including a new John Lewis store. Work is due to start on site later this year and the project team also includes architect Chapman Taylor. Local sources claim that Sir Robert McAlpine is favourite for the Bristol project, due to its experience in the region. The firm is currently working on the £135m redevelopment of the Princesshay shopping centre in Exeter, which is due for completion in 2007.

The trio of contractors bidding for the two shopping centres, also initially bid for another major project for developer Hammerson in the City of London.

A decision between Bovis Lend Lease and Sir Robert McAlpine is due to be made on the £75m redevelopment of the London Stock Exchange building in July.

A source at Hammerson said the client would not expect to let all three jobs out to one of the three contractors.