Interchange Commercial District
A mixed-use city centre development with offices adjacent to the £150m Interchange transport hub.
OPPORTUNITY
The promoters welcome the interest of investors and occupiers for a range of investment and delivery structure opportunities around the Interchange Commercial District area.
Consisting of multiple strategic sites to build upon the success of the new and developing Commercial District underpinned by the new transport interchange. Key site opportunities include Interchange 8, Banana Yard, Steam Mill and Sackworks, and a hotel offer as part of a potential 93,000m² of new commercial space, 87,000m² net office space and 153 bed hotel.
Promoter: City of Wolverhampton Council Ion Developments
Scale: £100m+ GDV
Sector: Office, retail, hotel, leisure and residential
Location: Wolverhampton
Investment Type: Opportunities for occupiers, buyer, equity investor, operators
Programme: 2023 onwards
Planning Status: As part of local area plan Outline application being prepared for Interchange
Website: www.investwolverhampton.com
BACKGROUND
These opportunities within the Wolverhampton Interchange Commercial District form the next phase of a highly successful city centre mixed use regeneration programme with unrivalled connectivity to Birmingham, Manchester and London.
The centrepiece is i9, a distinctive new landmark office building within two minutes’ walk of the railway station and five minutes from the city’s retail centre. Offering Grade A office space, the building was fully let prior to completion in 2021 and is home to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ second UK headquarters.
The £150m transformation within the Commercial District area has created an integrated commuter hub and modern railway station servicing more than 4.7 million passengers a year, incorporating improved facilities for motorists and cyclists as well as extended Metro services.
DESCRIPTION
Wolverhampton has the potential around the transport interchange to grow its office offer by up to 87,000m² net office space over ten years. This would allow the city to capitalise on its location and connectivity as a commercial office quarter of regional significance.
Interchange 8 will be the city’s largest office development at Interchange and as a net zero carbon development will have the best environmental credentials of any building in the city. Its predecessors, the recently completed i9 and i10 have been runaway success stories – attracting blue-chip businesses with excellent covenant strength to Wolverhampton and setting new standards building upon Wolverhampton’s rich historic architectural merit.
The building design will enable future tenants to operate the space as a net-zero-carbon office facility. Precisely controlled and optimised mechanical ventilation via the floor design in winter and natural ventilation when acoustics, air quality and outdoor weather allow, together with energy efficient features, will assist both the landlords’ and tenant’s energy use, to each be kept keeping it below the Green Building Council NCZ requirement of 35 kWh/m² NLA/year. The structure facade and building elements will limit the embodied carbon to less than <700 kg/m².
Aligned to Interchange 8, the site at Broad Street offers the opportunity to further develop the Commercial District with a new hotel offer which will serve to capture latent demand in the Wolverhampton market for new, high-quality hotel accommodation.
Proposals for the northern part of this site include the delivery
of a 153-bedroom hotel. Operated and managed by an international hotel brand, the hotel will satisfy the strong underlying demand from Wolverhampton’s diverse cultural, tourism and business offer and events programme. The project will act as a catalyst to kick-start the redevelopment of this high-profile regeneration area.
Steam Mill and Sackworks are two key sites neighbouring the city’s new railway station in the ownership of the Wolverhampton Interchange partnership. Together they bring the opportunity for over 163 apartments, plus office and leisure-led development adjacent to the city’s historic canal The positioning of the sites at the gateway to the city’s wider Canalside South area offers the potential to introduce improved connectivity, linking new residential populations with the Commercial District.
PROMOTER AND PARTNERSHIPS
The Interchange Commercial District programme is promoted by City of Wolverhampton Council in partnership with Ion Developments.
LOCATION
Located in a unique waterside location, Interchange Commercial District is in an enviable city centre location at the heart of Wolverhampton’s integrated transport network.