St Stephen's, Hull - Groundbreaking

The plaque will be moved to one of the scheme entrances when construction work is completed in 2007.

Construction work at ING Real Estate Development UK’s 52,000 sq m (559,700 sq ft) is well advanced. Piling work is 50% completed and the metal frames of parts of the scheme are being erected.

The development will comprise 30,000 sq m (320,000 sq ft) of retail, 14,000 sq m (150,000 sq ft) of leisure, 220 homes, a hotel, 1,550 car park spaces and a new home for the acclaimed Hull Truck Theatre Company and the Albemarle Centre for children’s music. As part of the scheme ING Real Estate will construct a transport interchange with integrated facilities for bus and rail passengers. 

Commenting afterwards, Siep Hoeksma, Chief Executive of ING Real Estate Development UK said: "It has taken a great deal of work by very many people, particularly our development partners Hull City Council, Hull Citybuild and Yorkshire Forward, to get St Stephen’s to this stage but we are now well on the way to delivering one of the most significant regeneration projects in Europe."

John Haymes, Development Director of Citybuild added: "St Stephen’s is much more than a fantastic retail and leisure development. The new state of the art transport interchange, which is part of the scheme, is the first fully integrated bus and train facility in the country. This, together with the new Hull Truck Theatre, new Albemarle Music School, the hotel and over 200 homes make St Stephens one of the most impacting regeneration projects being undertaken in the UK."  

Cllr Kath Lavery, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Regeneration at Hull City Council concurred: "Partners across the city have aspired for some time to create a vibrant, thriving city centre where people want to spend time, live, work and enjoy entertainment. St Stephen’s will tick all those boxes creating a dynamic community at the heart of our city and providing a breathtaking entrance to those travelling to the city on public transport."

The retail-led mixed-use scheme is set to revitalise a largely derelict part of Hull’s city centre and 66% of the retail space has already been committed. 

The latest retailers to take space at St Stephen’s are: River Island, USC, HMV, Game, Zara, Oasis, Jane Norman and TK Maxx.  They join Tesco, NEXT, H&M, Sports World and New Look who have already signed up.  H&M and Jane Norman are not currently represented in the city centre.

ING Real Estate is working in partnership with Hull City Council, Yorkshire Forward – who own most of the land - and English Partnerships via the city’s urban regeneration company Hull Citybuild. 

The scheme was forward-purchased by British Land, one of the UK’s largest property companies, in 2005. When the scheme is completed ownership will transfer to British Land, already a significant long term investors in the city of Hull.

Foster and Partners produced the concept for the scheme whilst Holder Mathias Architects is the project architect and has developed the architectural design.

HBG is the main contractor for the scheme and Edmund Nuttall Limited is responsible for the enabling civil engineering activity, which is due to finish in May 2006.

The letting agents for the scheme are Lunson Mitchenall and Jones Lang LaSalle.