Page 10 - Meadowhall 25th Anniversary: The Star Special Supplement
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10 THESTAR
www.thestar.co.uk Saturday,September5,2015
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Long-service celebrations at Meadowhall
‘Coming to work here is a pleasure’
Meadowhall has announced an “unprecedented” £50 million refurbishment pro gramme to mark the centre’s 25th anniversary.
Meadowhall’s co-owner and asset manager, British Land,saysthatisthemostsig- nificantinthecentre’shistory, designed to ensure a contin ued and unrivalled shopping experience for customers, andfirmlyensuringMeadow- hall’s reputation as a key des tination for retail excellence today and into the future.
The refurbishment works willstartlaterintheyearand will be completed by the end of2017.
The extensive works - whichwilllargelybecomplet ed out ofhours to enable all retail andleisure operators to trade throughout the period -willcreatedistinctdistricts within the centre, each with a different finish including wood and punctured metal.
Theworkswillalsoenable anumberofretailerstoinstall ‘double height’ shop fronts.
‘VERY PROUD’
The refurbishment will fur ther include new ‘way find ing’,mallseatingandlighting as well as the installation of dramatic lighting artwork, working to ensure that Mead- owhall remains a modern shopping environment.
This latest refurbishment announcement follows the recent £3 million upgrade of theParkLanearea,whichwas completed in 2014.
Darren Pearce, Meadow- hall’s centre director, said: “We are very proud to have served and supported the lo cal and regional communi ty for a quarter of a century, bringing people together by listening and responding to changing consumer, market and economic changes to en sure the best experience for all.
“And what better way to mark our 25-year milestone thanbyannouncingthebiggest refurbishment programme in Meadowhall’s history for the benefit of our current and fu ture shoppers; delivering an innovative, compelling and creative shopping experience to ensure that Meadowhall continues to lead the way for the next 25 years.”
Regarded today as thejew el in the crown ofYorkshire’s
As Meadowhall celebrates its25thbirthday,thereare some very special mem bers of staff who are also raising a glass to mark their 25th work anniver sary at the centre.
Andrew Brown, pay roll and personnel co-or- dinator, Linda Fogwill, a dedicated cleaning op erative, Christopher Ibbotson, the centre’s caretaker; Kenneth Joyce, the longest-serving cen tre supervisor, Mick Os borne, security manager, Gary Wright, who heads the property services de partment, and Robert Waller, who is the night supervisor, have all called Meadowhall their place of workforawhopping9,125 dayseach.
Meadowhallkick-start editsbirthdayinstyleyes terdaywithaweekendfull of celebrations planned and at the top ofthe guest list, of course, are hard workingstaff.
Andrew Brown re called: “My first thoughts ofMeadowhallwerewalk ingintothetotalunknown oneverylevel,Ididn’tknow whattoexpect.
“After25yearsit’sbeen morethanajobtome,I have met some good peo ple and I am working with colleagues who I now class as very good friends.
“Meadowhall has al ways been about the peo ple and I love that.”
Gary Wright remem bers Meadowhall before it had even opened its doors to the public: “It was like a construction site, I couldn’t believe the size oftheplaceandhowbusy it was getting the centre ready for opening, every one chipped in.
“Meadowhallhas been a bigpartofmylife andithas allowed me to eryoy a very good career progression.”
Mick Osborne also add ed: “I couldn’t get over the size ofthe place, I remem ber going to Woolworths and getting lost!
“Meadowhallhasplayed suchabigpartinmylife,it has a big family culture, with varied departments and good people who all work together to achieve the same goal.
“Coming to work here every day is something I like to call a pleasure.”
Aglimpseofthefuture at Meadowhall Shopping Centre
multi-billion-pound retail business, Meadowhall today houses more than 300 leading UK and international stores, restaurants and cafes.
AWARDS
The centre plays a significant part when it comes to the lo cal economy, employing up to 8,500 at peak times and con tributing more than a fifth of the total business rates reve nue to Sheffield City Council.
The Source Skills Acad emy at Meadowhall, today a standalone £3million a year business, has trained tens of thousands ofpeople over the vears, and continues to blaze a
trail for private sector engage ment in equipping the work force for the future.
As a centre, Meadowhall has picked up a plethora of awards and accolades over the years for its retail, manage ment, operations, communica tions and environment work.
It was the first UK shop ping centre to install LED lights across the centre.
It also developed an on site Resource and Recovery Centre which sorts, separates and sends materials for recy cling, invested in a rainwater harvesting, which today sup plies non-drinking water to the centre and installed elec
tric charging points - the first in Sheffield too.
Claire Barber, head ofshop ping centre assetmanagement for British Land, said: “Across the retail portfolio, we are in vesting in our assets to ensure they reflect the way people shop today.
“The refurbishment of Meadowhallwillreposition the centre to appeal to pre mium and lifestyle retailers as well as a broader range of customers.
“We are very excited about the future for Meadowhall and theexperiencethisinvestment will create for both our cus tomers and retailers.”
