WEB EXCLUSIVE
The UK’s YES! Project Continues to Grow in
Rotherham
$561M development raises investment tally to $2.8B
An ambitious $561 million leisure and entertainment
project has taken a step nearer reality in a borough
at the heart of the UK. It would bring to $2.8 billion
the total investment planned or already under way.
The $561 million project is the YES! Project in Rotherham,
South Yorkshire. A UK arm of Clear Channel Communications
Inc. is one of three major operators that have formally
registered interest in taking space in it. And the
developers are expected any time now to submit their
application for planning permission to the local authority.
YES! – Yorkshire’s Entertainment Sensation
– is planned to be a combination of entertainment,
high-tech, extreme sport, and other leisure pursuits,
and has already won serious interest from major TV
companies and big names in the entertainment world.
It is just the latest in a series of multi-million-dollar
regeneration programs in Rotherham, which sits just
166 miles north of London and equidistant between
Britain’s east and west coast ports.
Already under way is the Rotherham Renaissance project
– a 25-year regeneration scheme for the heart
of the town that is set to attract about $1.86 billion.
Its first visible impact, an imposing $24.3 million
business center for entrepreneurs, opens in the summer.
A $187 million business park is already well under
way in the north of the borough, and another $187
million business, housing and leisure scheme is proposed
for a site just a few hundred yards from that.
The YES! Project, in the south-west, would bring
back to vibrant life 300 acres of brownfield land
beside the borough’s 1,000-acre Rother Valley
Country Park. The site is just a few minutes’
drive from Junction 31 of England’s main north-south
interstate, the M1 motorway.
The project is expected to generate significant regeneration
benefits for the Yorkshire region and beyond, including
3,000 new jobs, many in the growing cultural and creative
industries.
It is a joint enterprise between site owner Rotherham
Metropolitan Borough Council and preferred developer
Oak Holdings plc, but the investment will come from
the private sector. Oak is a property development
group listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's global
market for smaller growing companies.
The scheme has the support of the Council and regional
development agency Yorkshire Forward, as well as other
major public-sector organizations in the region, based
around a shared vision to create a world-class tourist
destination for the region.
YES! would provide an innovative mix of leisure uses,
including a theatre built to full London West End
standard, a multi-use theatre, TV and recording studios,
major indoor themed leisure facility and a hotel spa
resort. There would also be an exciting and diverse
mix of restaurants, bars and cafés, with a
small amount of complementary shops.
The all-weather facilities would be under an all-enclosing
planted roof and the entire development would fit
as closely as possible into its natural surroundings.
The three potential anchor operators have each signed
Memorandum of Understanding (‘MOU’) with
Oak, relating to major space at the project:
Clear Channel Entertainment (Theatrical) UK Limited,
part of Clear Channel Communications Inc., which is
one of the biggest promoters of live entertainment
in the world, has confirmed interest in a new approximate
2,000-seat theater complex in the scheme. It is intended
that this facility will be able to stage full-scale
West End productions, unadapted, host a variety of
other events, and incorporate a theatrical arts academy.
Baydrive Group Limited, the owners of the innovative
TopGolf Centres in Watford and Chigwell, intends opening
a major new golf center within the development. TopGolf
Centres are luxury driving ranges, using their patented
computer-chipped golf balls, which provide entertainment
for families and mixed ability groups as well as serious
golfers who want to improve their swing. The installation
of a center at the YES! Project is part of Top Golf’s
national and international roll-out program.
Venture Xtreme (UK) Limited has confirmed its interest
in an impressive new facility that will include indoor
and outdoor extreme pursuits, taking advantage of
the topography of the site and the water sports facilities
available in the adjoining 684-acre country park.
"We are delighted to have received the backing
from three experienced leisure operators keen on participating
in what we believe is potentially one of the most
exciting leisure and entertainment projects ever undertaken
in this country," says Oak chief executive Steve
Lewis. "These are the first three MOUs to be
signed by Oak and mark a major step forward in the
progression of the project. Furthermore, we are in
negotiations with a number of other companies who
have expressed interest in the project including leading
international hotel operators. These negotiations
are progressing well and we hope to make further announcements
in the coming months."
"These signings are excellent news and an indication
of the massive scale of this project," says the
council’s Cabinet Member for Economic & Development
Services, Cllr Gerald Smith. "We’re expecting
a planning application in January and if it’s
approved the project would be a boost not just for
Rotherham but for the whole of South Yorkshire."
EDS executive director Adam Wilkinson, who is leading
for the council on the project, says: "Interest
shown by these big names is proof that this is a very
serious proposition. If it gets planning approval
it would add significantly to Yorkshire’s offering
of venues and stamp the areas presence even more firmly
on the leisure and entertainment map."
Yorkshire is a region of five million people –
a population larger than Scotland’s or Denmark’s.
Rotherham is one of its inward investment stars, with
some 90 overseas companies, including 20 from the
USA.
