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Sheffield: Destination Management Plan for a vibrant city 2012-2015

Introduction

This Destination Management Plan is designed as a strategic guide, to be adopted by all

partnership organisations involved in developing Sheffield as an internationally important

tourism destination.

It is a key instrument to identify the actions and strategic relationships that will deliver a

tourism strategy which will transcend into the Sheffield City Region.

Marketing Sheffield is key to delivering this Destination Management Plan as cross-sector &

partnership working is embedded in its ethos; led by private sector views and aligned to local

and national strategies. Marketing Sheffield will provide the lead in delivering positive

outcomes.

The Plan concentrates on a single area - the need to deliver a ‘vibrant city centre’ - the area

with the highest concentration of visitor related facilities and services, and the area which will

deliver the highest impact on improving the experience for visitors and residents alike.

The planned outcomes for Sheffield are ambitious and transformational. Everyone benefits,

and everyone must contribute. By creating a vibrant city centre, we create a visitor

destination which presents Sheffield as a Competitive City, as an attractive and successful

place to live, work and invest.

The DMP is important because it provides a framework and rationale for investment in

tourism, which is one of the sectors specified in the Sheffield City Region – Local Enterprise

Partnership Business Plan.

Executive Summary

Sheffield suffers a comparatively low spend from those who visit and use the City Centre.

City centre footfall is erratic resulting in a lack of the consistent volume demanded by

investors.

Physical disconnections exist between areas of the City Centre, particularly the hotels in

Victoria Quays being separate from the main retail and leisure areas of the city centre.

However, the new Castlegate project will address this and provide an attractive new

‘destination’ area for the city.

Sheffield has a vibrant cultural offer – including award winning theatres, museums, galleries,

music venues and dance. However, much is ‘off the beaten track’, hidden or fragmented.

Culture could offer far more to the city’s vibrancy, tourism offer and overall economic

sustainability.

However, the city’s cultural offer is threatened by reductions in local and national funding,

and the city’s extensive festival programme, including Tramlines and Doc/Fest face funding

challenges. Independent leisure in the city centre is relatively strong, linked to venues like the

Showroom, but we need a higher quality mainstream offer.

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Retaining a distinctive ‘content’ offer by being authentic and independent is important to

differentiate Sheffield from other destinations. We must nurture the authentic and

independent brand in tandem with sizeable investment from major retail and leisure brands

that will give the city centre critical mass.

The retail offer, particularly for fashion is not of sufficient quality and this is translating into

low transaction values in current retailers. This offer is dependent on planned developments,

including the proposed New Retail Quarter.

The city’s hotel stock has grown in recent years, but the proliferation of 3 star and budget

hotels is saturating this section of the market, resulting in surplus rooms that in turn

depresses room rates and prohibits investment from higher value brands.

Access to the city from out of the local area is a strength, and should improve with

electrification of the Midland mainline and High Speed Rail 2. Anecdotally this accessibility

also makes it easy for people to limit their visit to a day trip, raising questions whether the

offer in the city centre does not always entice people to stay overnight.

Locally, parking is often cited as a key reason for people not visiting the city centre; however

our car parking average rates are below those of most other core cities, with only Newcastle

being noticeably cheaper.

The Economic Strategy, City Centre Masterplan and Major Events Strategy, coupled with

new or previously under-utilised instruments such as the New Development Deal, Business

Improvement Districts and Tourism Business Improvement Districts, if harnessed

appropriately, can start to facilitate growth and change this picture.

‘We’ (the City) have a very real opportunity to address these significant challenges by

aligning these strategies in a cohesive way, driven by the unifying vision of a dynamic and

vibrant city centre.

To do this ‘we’ must also embrace a key theme of the Corporate Plan, ‘Business Friendly’, by

working closely with relevant sectors to support business and ensure Marketing Sheffield &

its partners create the right environment to encourage business investment and growth.

The National Strategy is important

VisitEngland, the national tourism body developed a Strategic Framework for Tourism 2010-

2020. The Objectives aim to achieve four interdependent objectives which are designed to

address the opportunities and challenges for England’s visitor economy:

Obj 01 –To increase England’s share of global visitor markets

Obj 02 – To offer visitors compelling destinations of distinction

Obj 03 – To champion a successful, thriving tourism industry

Obj 04 – To facilitate greater engagement between the visitor and the experience.

The framework highlights the significant opportunities over a 10 year period for the tourism

industry but that these are equalled by the number of challenges. A number of Action

Plans have been developed to deliver on the Strategic Frameworks objectives which are

available www.englandtourismframework.co.uk/strategicframework.aspx.

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This Destination Management Plan aims to ensure alignment with national strategies to

provide long term opportunities for Sheffield.

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Purpose

The purpose of this Destination Management Plan is to;

Set out the current position

Clearly define vibrancy,

Describe why this is important to the City,

To articulate what we believe the issues to be, and

Set out our plan for Sheffield and the opportunities, including cultural tourism.

The plan will be a clear picture for Sheffield city-centre, focused on what we believe to be a

sustainable solution. As such, this cannot be wholly reliant on specific interventions, either

large scale development projects or major events, but also must look at the incremental

changes we can make to our services or the influence we can have with others to make

Sheffield City Centre a more vibrant place.

Current Position

Over the last 15 years Sheffield's City Centre has experienced a dramatic transformation.

However, the over-whelming impact of the recession has been to reduce the confidence and

capacity for investment and regeneration, stalling a number of planned public realm

developments. Whilst some are now progressing this has inevitably had an impact on the

vibrancy in Sheffield City Centre.

As well as long-term mainstream projects we must be open to short term or experimental

initiatives. Some may have only a short term impact, but others may turn out to be valuable

seedbeds for the next generation of new ideas and talent.

The City Centre remains a key driver of the City Region economy and we need to re-focus

our vision for the future.

Major development and public realm projects will continue to contribute to vibrancy, but we

also need a more holistic approach and to take action to make the City Centre a place with

a well-rounded offer which people choose to come and enjoy using. This includes

visitors, businesses and local residents.

It also includes cultural tourism – building on the city’s strong infrastructure of theatres,

galleries and venues, and ensuring the sustainability of its festivals and creative events.

New financial tools for growth

The Government is beginning to devolve more powers and finance for delivery and greater

flexibilities at city and city-region level. A number of new financial instruments to support

growth in the economy are emerging, such as New Development Deal’s (NDDs) and Tourism

Business Improvement Districts (TBIDs).

We need to become more entrepreneurial and commercially smart as a city to look at how

we can use these tools to benefit the city for more than just large-scale physical

infrastructure projects.

Many of the conditions for vibrancy rely on a competitive offer in the city centre. We need to

work proactively with the private sector to address these challenges, but also ensure we get

the basics right and fulfil our commitment to being a ‘Business Friendly City’.

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What do we mean when we talk about vibrancy?

Vibrancy is about people using and enjoying the City Centre. This means:

people are coming to the city centre,

people are staying in the city centre, and

people are spending money in the city centre.

A vibrant City Centre provides the services and facilities that businesses, customers,

residents and visitors demand. It creates jobs, attracts investment, generates income and is

a key contributor towards economic growth.

Sheffield needs to be competitive with neighbouring towns and, importantly, other core cities.

We think this relies on:

Culture and leisure – the scale and breadth of opportunities and things to do including

events and animation and a quality evening/ night-time offer

Hospitality – by this we mean quality hotels and great restaurants

Retail – with a wide range of shopping opportunities from the big brands to small

independent shops catering for niche markets

Public realm – including venues that people travel to visit, a modern and well-

connected urban landscape and a well maintained and safe place.

Accessibility – people being able to get into and out of the city centre, including

parking

As such there is no single answer to increase vibrancy. Instead there are a number of

conditions that need to be right to attract visitors, businesses and residents to use the city

centre.

A framework for defining vibrancy:

Culture and Leisure Range of cultural & leisure venues with a strong events programme and ongoing ‘animation’

Public realm An attractive, well-managed physical environment

Access A city centre that is easy to get to, from within and beyond Sheffield

Hospitality A diverse hotel and restaurant offer

Retail A strong retail offer which appeals to different market segments

People coming to the city centre

People staying in the city centre

People spending in the city centre

Ma

rke

tin

g

Bra

nd

Conditions for vibrancy

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What’s the impact?

A vibrant City Centre offer is key to our economic success. The experience of the City Centre

is vital as this is often the first part of the city that people encounter and is likely to influence

their decision about whether to invest, work, study or live here.

We need an offer which both attracts people to the City Centre, encourages them to spend

time here and to spend money during their visit.

Many of the conditions for vibrancy rely on a competitive offer in the city centre. We need to

work proactively with the private sector to address these challenges, but also ensure we get

the basics right and fulfil our commitment to being a ‘Business Friendly City’.

By developing, showcasing and ensuring the sustainability of Sheffield’s unique authentic

and independent cultural offer, we can strengthen the Sheffield brand in ways which will

attract new visitors, keep existing ones staying for longer, and build the city’s reputation as a

visitor destination.

What is vibrancy like at the moment?

Are people coming to Sheffield?

Footfall is a good indicator that people are using the city centre. This captures people using

the main thoroughfares and indicates they are able to access the wider offer in the city centre

if they choose to. Without this movement of people in key areas, this would be a barrier to

the other measures of vibrancy (i.e. staying and spending money in the city centre).

Footfall is holding fairly steady in recent years, although this has dropped significantly from

2008 (pre-recession) levels.

A key concern is the inconsistency of footfall that is driven by the over reliance on events

held within the city centre (this is looked at in more detail within the Culture and Leisure

section). To us, this indicates our core offer is not good enough to attract consistent numbers

of people that could use our city centre more frequently if they chose to.

NB: Footfall figures include the main thoroughfares of Fargate and Pinstone Street and are

not a representation of total numbers, but a useful guide on trends over the last 5 years.

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Are people staying in Sheffield?

The number of overnight visitors increased significantly in 2011, following a number of years

where this was in decline. Compared to other core cities Sheffield still ranks lowest for

overnight visitors from the UK1. We are broadly similar to our nearest comparator, Newcastle

Gateshead which has an equivalent number of overnight visitors.

Are people spending money in Sheffield?

Whilst we are comparable to Newcastle in numbers of visitors, the conversion of visits into

spend is poor. Newcastle had only 0.7% more visitors than Sheffield in 2011, but generated

over 116% more spend from overnight visitors (equivalent to £113 million):

Sheffield City Centre's retail position is also below that of the other eight English Core Cities,

ranked 20th in the CACI Retail Footprint and substantially below Meadowhall which is ranked

14th.

Many of the reasons for the above underperformance are amplified by current economic

conditions and the stalling of major retail and leisure schemes.

However, the city’s cultural destinations are performing well, with theatres, museums,

independent cinema and many events reporting increasing visitor numbers and income-

generation.

1 Combined Leisure and Business Visitors – UK Tourism Survey

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What are the conditions to support city centre vibrancy like at the

moment?

Cultural and Leisure

Culture is a vital part of the city’s identity and a central element of the city’s national and

international reputation. Sheffield’s cultural credentials are impressive but to ensure we

successfully compete with other major cities as a hub for culture and creativity, we need to

unlock the potential of the city’s creative and cultural assets.

We can do this by understanding our current and potential audiences and visitors more

effectively; by mapping the city’s diverse and hidden cultural elements, in ways which open

them up to a wider audience; in guiding visitors more effectively through the city; and in

building our key festivals into national events for visitors, creatives and industry

professionals.

We are developing an ambitious plan for major cultural development of the Central Library as

one of final pieces in the 'Heart of City' strategy. Built around a 21st century library, the

development will see a fusing of cultural experiences, knowledge, public space, digital

innovation and information.

There is potential major redevelopment within the city's cultural quarter. We aim to create an

enhanced contemporary gallery and exhibition space at the Site Gallery with improved public

realm to enable regular creative producer markets, extended public and education

programmes and new commercial opportunities, as the focus for creative production and

education for the City Region.

There is also the opportunity of a national and regional role for The Showroom as one of the

new British Film Institute (BFI) Hubs. This will bring a major boost to public and education

programmes plus development of enterprise and skills projects supported by Creative

England.

The strategy is to work in partnership with the city’s Cultural Consortium to leverage external

investment from Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund, BFI / Creative England etc, to

maintain a viable, independent cultural sector that commissions and produces authentic and

independent content.

The new Castlegate project will reclaim Sheffield’s earliest roots and cultural heritage, by

revealing the castle ruins which will be set in a public park and surrounded by new retail,

commercial and housing development. This will both unlock access to the attractively-

renovated Canal Basin, and link many of Sheffield’s hotels more coherently to the city’s

cultural destinations.

Night-time

Hotels in the city report relatively strong weekend occupancy, which correlates with a strong

night-time offer as people come to the centre to go out on Friday and Saturday nights. This

offer has also been boosted with new investment from Genting that provides a broader offer

in the evenings.

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Sheffield is the first city in Yorkshire to receive the Purple Flag award. This recognises great

entertainment and hospitality along with a positive experience to night-time visitors and users

(between 5pm and 6am).

Sheffield is one of six core cities to have achieved Purple Flag status alongside Bristol,

Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham.

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Events and animation

The chart below shows the projected impact of our current events programme.

Whilst this demonstrates the impact of our key events, it also raises concerns because of the

lack of future funding available. Without these events increasing footfall, there is the potential

for footfall to drop and become a barrier to vibrancy.

Sheffield’s broad programme of city marketing activities including our major events

and festivals requires new models of financial support to be sustained and grown,

including sponsorship opportunities and income generation that is driven by return on

investment.

We will identify new models and potential funding partners and broker

relationships and develop new models. We will also capitalise on businesses’

commitment to corporate social responsibility

Hospitality (hotels and restaurants)

The hotel sector has seen considerable investment in the last decade, particularly at the

budget end. The proliferation of 3 star and budget hotels is saturating this section of the

market, resulting in surplus rooms that in turn depresses room rates.

Hotel room occupancy rates have held steady over the period where the supply has

increased at around 66-67%; this has seen average room rates in the city at around £48.

The Hotels.com Hotel Price Index Other Core Cities shows this is one of the lower of Core

Cities, with only Nottingham comparatively cheaper (based on January to June 2012). Other

cities have average rates in the mid-£60s to mid-£70s and this is prohibiting investment from

higher value brands in Sheffield. As such there are some gaps in provision, particularly in the

4/5 star and 'boutique' mid-range.

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Major brands such as Radisson are missing from the city alongside ‘attract brands’

such as Malmaison and Hotel du Vin. These brands command higher rates from both

business and leisure visitors and drive overall city yield.

Sheffield also lacks an urban Backpacker Hotel or Hostel such as can be found in

most European and many UK cities.

We will work with developers and planners to encourage major brand

developments.

The main cluster of hotels around Victoria Quays suffers from a fragmented and poor

quality environment and a disconnect from the city centre, which restricts their ability

to attract tourist as well as business clientele.

Working with sector partners, we will embed the most appropriate access

routes into all sector activity and communications, to minimise the disconnect

with the city centre. This will include signposting and mapping projects,

improvements to the environment to provide a more aesthetically acceptable

environment.

Although a number of restaurants have opened in the city centre in recent years, the current

offer does not make Sheffield a destination of choice to attract visitors to the night-time

economy.

Whilst there are a number of popular ‘High Street’ brands such as Nandos, Zizzi, ASK,

Pizza Express, etc which are in the mid price range, we lack an offer with a higher-end

reputation which would be a specific attraction, for example Fifteen, Carluccio’s etc.

We will concentrate on the independent restaurants, focussing on using local

produce to deliver a ‘unique taste of Sheffield’. Working with existing industry

groups and associations we will encourage the best to enter national awards

and get deserved recognition in consumer food publications. Together we will

develop a strong visitor message to discover the culinary delights of Sheffield.

Retail

People’s shopping habits have changed significantly. 40% of shops are forecast to close

nationally in the next 5 years, and our offer in the City Centre needs to be fit to respond to

this context.

In retail, the ‘High Street’ is in decline nationally both due to the recession and also, longer-

standing issues related to growth of online shopping (a new phenomenon of ‘showroomers’

has emerged to describe those consumers who browse and price check in physical stores

and then transact for less on line) and the growth and future challenges faced by out of town

competition. As stated earlier, Sheffield City Centre's retail position is below that of the other

eight English Core Cities, ranked 20th in the CACI Retail Footprint and substantially below

Meadowhall ranked 14th.

Sheffield City Centre currently has a vacancy rate of 13.8% (116 vacant shop units)

compared with the Yorkshire and North East rate of 11.4% and a national rate of 11.1%. This

relatively high figure to some extent reflects the impact of delayed developments but is also

mitigated due to the temporary effect of the Sheffield Showcase initiative which has put

around twenty vacant units back into alternative uses.

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The City Centre outsells Meadowhall in the Homeware, Audiovisual and Chemists Goods

sectors, but Meadowhall dominates the two largest categories of Clothing / Footwear and

Miscellaneous (those associated more with fashion).

Within the Homeware sector, the textiles and furnishings sector contribute the most

significant turnover to the City Centre (£94.57 million1). This is a significant proportion of

expenditure which contributes significantly to the vitality and viability of Sheffield City Centre

and thus planning policy protection needs to be retained in face of recent proposals for larger

out of town units.

The need for an increased quality in our retail offer is also apparent in the average

transaction value of City Centre retailers, where 45% of transactions were £10 and below

and a quarter were £5 and below. This figure suggests a high frequency of visits and a high

city centre student population.

The fashion offer of the City Centre, especially the quality end, is most in need of

strengthening, this is a major reason for the on-going case for the New Retail Quarter,

Sevenstone and to support the development of existing or new independents in the sector.

An indicative date of 2015 has been identified for a potential start on site for the New Retail

Quarter project. We need to ensure there is a comprehensive alternative if this plan does not

come to fruition.

Progress on the regeneration of the Moor is being taken forward on a modular site by site

basis, linked by a public realm strategy which should see the Moor substantially improved

and reinvigorated over the next two to three years. Combined with the move of the Markets

to The Moor at the end of 2013, a more compact and high quality shopping offer in line with

the City Centre Master Plan will be created.

The level of independent retail within the city centre is relatively high, but we are

missing some of the key high street brands that people expect within a vibrant city

such as an Apple store and brand fashion retailers such as Flannels, Reiss, Zara,

Hollister, Jack Wills etc.

We will concentrate on telling the story of independent and quality fashion and

design being available; reinforcing the independent and authentic values of

Sheffield – fashion setters rather than fashion followers.

Public Realm

Significant investment over the past 15 years has transformed Sheffield’s City Centre and

provides the city with a stronger foundation for economic growth. We need to maintain this

momentum to continue to improve our retail offer in particular.

The new Moor Markets development started on site in June 2012 and is due to open for

trading by the end of 2013. Longer term, securing completion of a New Retail Quarter will

expand the scale and quality of our mainstream retail offer as well as providing mixed-use

space to grow a new generation of independent retailers and support other creative activities.

The move of the Markets from the Castlegate to The Moor creates the opportunity to

transform Sheffield's most historic quarter which has been in slow decline for decades. As

well as the intrinsic public interest in the remains of the Castle and subsequent historic layers

1 Retail Analysis done by GVA in 2012, using the 2010 Cushman and Wakefield Sheffield Retail Study

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of development, the site also plays a crucial role as the City Centre link to both our largest

concentration of hotels and Victoria Quays, an attractive waterside office location but one

lacking in the required footfall and vibrancy, leaving untapped potential. The area is also at a

key gateway location – where both the primary entrances to the City Centre from the M1

converge.

Public consultation has already indicated strong support for a significant public garden or

space occupying a central location containing retained ruins and artefacts from various

historical stages of occupation.

This will help to address the fact that Sheffield City Centre is currently too elongated,

resulting in people visiting pockets of the centre, rather than moving between different

locations. This also means parts of the offer in the City Centre are disconnected from

each other. For example, many of the hotels are located away from the key cultural

and retail sites (see following city centre map).

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City Centre Management

Without holistic place management the solid foundations of Sheffield’s built physical environment would

deteriorate. Customer Satisfaction levels for City Centre Management continue to improve around safety

(82%), cleanliness (96%), management (96%) and general enjoyment (98%).

City Centre businesses have come to expect the service as free whilst other cities (notably Birmingham)

operate much of their City Centre Management on a series of Business Improvement Districts (BID’s)

supported by annual levies on business.

One possibility is to launch a new City Centre Business Improvement District in association with the

investment of City Development funds. Such a levy could contribute to the high quality management of the

city centre and to the events programme as in other cities.

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Whilst businesses see the double incentive of public capital investment in new infrastructure and an

improved service to look after it; any levy via a BID cannot replace existing services, instead they add

value and return on investment for the levy payer.

We will develop a funding model to maintain the standards and events that attract visitors

and business to the city centre

Access

Access to the city from out of the local area is a strength, and should improve with electrification of the

Midland mainline and High Speed Rail 2. Anecdotally this accessibility also makes it easy for people to

limit their visit to a day trip, raising questions whether the offer in the city centre does not always entice

people to stay overnight.

The City Centre needs to be accessible to local residents as well as visitors and parking availability and

charges are often cited as a key concern. An initial look at the parking offered in the core cities shows that

the pricing of car parks within 10 minutes of Sheffield City Centre is lower than most other core cities:

Average car park charge per hour within 10 minutes

drive of the City Centre

Leeds £2.35

Manchester £2.03

Bristol £1.96

Birmingham £1.89

Nottingham £1.76

Sheffield £1.59

Liverpool £1.54

Newcastle £1.44

Core Cities Average £1.80

Source: http://en.parkopedia.co.uk

Filtered on short-term/day parking, car parks and street parking

Given the relative charges, the issue of expensive parking is likely to be one of perception and

knowledge of parking services and charges. Sheffield City Council operates only 9% of parking

and therefore has limited ability to change the average price of parking in the City Centre.

We will work with key agencies to provide better communications about parking provision,

including alternative solutions. We will develop a ‘parking passport’ system which

provides added-value or discounted opportunities for repeated use.

What’s already in place?

A vibrant City Centre is integral to achieving our ambitions to be a Competitive City. Our vision for

Competitive City is:

‘Sheffield will be a sustainable city which stimulates and incentivises business opportunity in

order to attract investment and growth, creating a competitive advantage that will provide more

and better jobs, enhancing the quality of life and reputation to attract people to live, work and visit;

a city of independence, authenticity and distinction.’

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To achieve a Vibrant City, we will make choices that stimulate and promote:

Business and leisure tourism,

An improved reputation for the city,

Opportunities for talent and creativity development and

Cultural, sporting excellence offering

A vibrant retail offer

The issue of Vibrancy is shared across a number of Sheffield City Council services whilst the private

sector has a significant role to play in ensuring the vibrancy and in turn, economic success of the city.

There are multiple delivery plans that set out our aspirations and planned activity in detail; these document

the key aspects that will improve City Centre vibrancy:

It is essential that these approaches and strategies work in a joined-up way to ensure maximum impact

from our investment and efforts.

Our Approach

Two approaches which will help to resolve the issues – ‘Hardware’ and ‘Software’.

By hardware we mean large scale physical infrastructure and the plans we will put in place to shape this.

By software we mean how we will use this infrastructure in the short to medium term.

Corporate

outcomes

A Competitive City

A Strong, Competitive

Economy A Vibrant City

An Environmentally,

Responsible City

Examples of

operational

initiatives

Licensing City Centre

Management Ambassadors Purple Flag

Strategic

initiatives

City Centre Vibrancy

City Centre

Masterplan

Capital and

Major

Projects

Cultural

Strategy

Major

Events

Economic Masterplan

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Hardware:

City Centre Masterplan – reducing the size of the retail offer in the City Centre by a third and

connecting the different areas within our City Centre

New Retail Quarter

Moor development and the Market

Cultural Industries Quarter

Castlegate

Software:

Chapel Walk – High St Innovation Fund

Pop-up shops

Engaging new, creative talent

Purple Flag for the night time economy

Festivals that support the brand values and alignment of University funding of festivals (Sheffield

Food Festival etc)

Itinerary mapping which showcases authentic and independent Sheffield

The ability of the Council to ‘deliver’ a better high-end offer that would promote spend is limited and will be

linked to the market and whether Sheffield is seen as a city that could sustain such an offer.

Summary

The following page sets out a summary position of where we are for each of the conditions for vibrancy

described in this Destination Management Plan, with a brief description on why this element is important

to key city centre users.

A draft action plan setting out the current and proposed actions to address the issues identified in this

DMP then follows.

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Conditions for vibrancy

Further explanation

What are different customers' perspectives and what do they need?

Relevance of the Sheffield 'brand' [authentic, independent, distinctive]

Assessment of our position

Visitors Sheffield (and city region) residents

Business-people

How strong is our offer for this 'condition'?

Culture and leisure

Do we have a range of leisure and cultural venues and providers; along with a strong programme of events and ongoing 'animation'?

Important - we need headline cultural and leisure providers, and strong events programme to attract visitors to Sheffield

Important - a programme of events, and 'animation' will encourage Sheffield residents to visit and hopefully use what’s on offer in the city centre

Moderately important - may help to 'lodge' Sheffield as a venue in business visitors' minds

Important to ensure that our cultural and leisure offer is distinctive as it has potential to be used as a distinguishing feature between Sheffield and other cities

While we have a good cultural offer; we have a less compelling leisure offer. We also need to ensure sustainable funding models, particularly for events

Hospitality Do we have a diverse hotel and restaurant offer?

Important - a range of hotels and restaurants needed to attract a range of visitors to the city

Moderately important - while having a strong restaurant offer is important; less so for hotels

Important - particularly having a strong hotel offer

We need to boost the independent/authentic elements of our hotel offer -this needn't be independent hotels per se, but could be chains with an 'independent' brand themselves, e.g., Malmaison, Hotel du Vin, etc.

Too uniform, and budget-priced (e.g. £48 per hotel room) discouraging more luxury brands from entering the market.

Retail

Do we have a strong retail offer which appeals to different market segments?

Moderately important - although other visitors often perceive 'Sheffield' to have a strong retail offer, because of Meadowhall

Important - a strong retail offer is a major driver of local residents visiting and spending in the city centre.

Relatively unimportant to visiting business people (although relatively important for people who work in the city centre)

Our independent/authentic retail offer is relatively strong; we are weak in terms of major, 'conventional' high-street retailers

Our city centre retail offer is not strong enough and over-focussed on the relatively low budget retailers. Ambitious plans in place for Moor Market, NRQ, etc.

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Public realm

Do we have an attractive physical environment, which is well-managed; potentially with one to two iconic venues?

Important - the city centre needs to look attractive and be well-maintained: people need to want to come and spend time in the city centre

Important - the city centre needs to look attractive and be well-maintained: people need to want to come and spend time in the city centre

Important - the city centre needs to look attractive for businesses to locate or put on events and meeting here

The style of the newer areas of the public realm are a particular style to Sheffield

Significant progress made in recent years, with an ambitious plan for continuing development in this area (Markets, NRQ, etc.)

Access

How easy is it to access the city centre - from beyond and within Sheffield?

Moderately important - domestic visitors need to be able to reach and use the city centre

Important - easy ways to access the city centre by public transport (bus, tram), and/or affordable parking options for drivers

Important - particularly good access to major transport links (however, other elements of our offer need to be strong to encourage business visitors to stay)

The application of authentic/independent to access points and routes to the city is unimportant

Good road and rail access from outside of Sheffield; parking charges look to be lower than many other core cities

Next Steps / Action Plan

What’s the issue?

What are we doing about it?

Existing action linked to strategy/ programme?

Have we already started?

When will it be done by?

Hardware/ Software

Priority rating?

What impact do we want to have?

More dynamic Cultural Offer

Culture Consortium vision and priorities finalised, with actions agreed

Culture Strategy / SCRIF

Yes 13/14 Software More visible and marketable Cultural Offer

Further Develop Cultural Industries Quarter / Central Library

City Centre Masterplan

Hardware

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What’s the issue?

What are we doing about it?

Existing action linked to strategy/ programme?

Have we already started?

When will it be done by?

Hardware/ Software

Priority rating?

What impact do we want to have?

Improve Quality and Breadth of Leisure

Attract Quality Bar (Slug and Lettuce etc), Cinema operators to the city

City Centre Masterplan

No Software To deliver an ‘attraction’ to increase visitors and spend

Consistent programme of Festivals and Events

Model to move to is from ‘Provider 2 Beneficiary’ (P2B), i.e. the beneficiary of the event provides funding

Major Events Strategy / Culture Strategy

Yes 2013 Software Increased visitors

Improve Quality and Breadth of Hospitality

Attract Brand Hotels – Malmaison , Hotel Du Vin etc

Software To deliver a high-end hotel and restaurant offer to encourage a new clientele to the city for overnight stays

Attract Restaurant – Carluccios, Jamies, Yo Sushi, Pret a Manger, Eat

Software

Improve Quality and Breadth of Retail

New Retail Quarter City Centre Masterplan

Yes Hardware

Increased visitor, increased spend and increased average transaction value

The Moor City Centre Masterplan

Yes Hardware

Showcase Yes Ongoing Software

High Street Innovation Fund Yes Ongoing Software

Maintain quality public realm

Continue to maintain high standards of cleanliness and maintenance of the city centre public realm

Existing action Yes Ongoing Software

To maintain a welcoming, safe and attractive environment to attract visitors

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Appendix One – City Centre Vibrancy Position Statement on Overall

Performance

This report has considered a wider range of ways to measure how vibrant our City Centre is

including:

Night Time Economy (value / turnover £ millions) City Centre Footfall CACI Retail Ranking Number of overnight visitors to Sheffield and spend (£ millions) Hotel Offer [Standard; Occupancy; Yield] Restaurant Offer [based on Prices] Access [Parking charges] University Popularity and Student Numbers

Overnight Visitors

This data is based on the number of trips by domestic overnight visitors.

Source – UK Tourism Survey (UKTS)

Since 2010, the survey has also collected information on spend by visitors. However neither

year has shown Sheffield in the top 20 towns for visitor spend

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Domestic Overnight Stays 2012 (GBTS) Trips Spend

(‘000s) £ (Millions)

1.London 11093 2398

2.Manchester 2613 523

3.Birmingham 2251 344

4.Bristol 1828 264

5.Scarborough 1645 308

6.York 1615 331

7.Leeds 1493 242

8.Blackpool 1478 263

9.Liverpool 1428 251

10.Newcastle 1303 247

11.Sheffield 1293 114

Source – UK Tourism Survey (UKTS)

2011 saw a 58% increase on 2010, mostly attributed to hosting of major sports events and

training camps pre Olympics 2012. Future performance is projected on average trend data,

plus a 5% uplift. The sustainable and realistic expectation is that overall performance in 2012

will be lower than 2011 but still a 5% increase on the 3 year average.

Whilst the data indicates that more visitors came to Sheffield over the last year, this still isn’t

translating into spend.

Culture and Leisure:

Night-time Economy

Turnover (2009)

£Million

Turnover growth 2006-2009

%

Night-time economy: turnover and growth

Source: MAKE, TBR

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Data on the night-time economy is relatively old, but shows that we compared well within

Core Cities and up to 2009 was an area of growth in Sheffield.

This information above is part of a research product called the Night-Mix Index (NMI). The

chart shows the financial turnover of businesses in the night time economy and the level

trend in turnover between 2006 and 2009. An update on this data is being sought.

The wider night-time index includes other factors over above business turnover listed below:

The mix and size of businesses in the night time economy

How many businesses are associated with alcohol and/or food consumption

Business births and deaths

How the recession has affected the NTE

People employed by the NTE

The relative strength of your own and your competitors' NTEs

Purple Flag

The city has also been awarded a Purple Flag over the last twelve months. The Purple Flag

award scheme aims to raise the standard and broaden the appeal of centres between 1700

and 0600. The award recognises great entertainment and hospitality areas at night.

Places that achieve the standard are judged by the ATCM, working alongside the Purple

Flag Advisory Board (a partnership of key stakeholder groups, including central and local

government, police, business and consumers) are judged to offer a positive experience to

night time visitors and users.

Sheffield is one of six core cities to have achieved Purple Flag status alongside Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham.

Events and Animations - Footfall

The blue line shows actual footfall which is inconsistent and fluctuates significantly between

months. The red line estimates the residual footfall if no events took place over the last

calendar year.

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The peaks that coincide with events are shown on the chart and show the extent to which

footfall is driven by events. This indicates our core offer is not sufficient to sustain levels of

footfall to key areas of the City Centre.

For most months removing the impact of events effectively removes the peaks that we see in

footfall, showing the City Centre operating at a steadier, but lower baseline. This analysis has

factored in seasonally significant events such as School, University and Bank Holidays, but

does not factor in the impact of weather.

The months that show a peak in footfall, seemingly unaffected by events, such as March

2012, coincided with unseasonably good weather, with temperatures in the mid-teens

following a cold February.

Hospitality

Hotel Occupancy

Date

Occupancy Average Daily Room Rate

2012 % Change from

2011 2012

% Change from 2011

January – March 63.5% -4.4% £47.35 -1.0%

April – June 68.9% -2.6% £48.24 2.3%

July – September 68.4% -3.2% £48.17 6.7%

October 70.5% -0.9% £49.45 4.3%

2012 Year to Date 67.3% -3.2% £48.1 2.9%

Source: PFK Sheffield city wide stats Year to Date 2012,

Occupancy rates are steady, having been in the mid 60%’s for a number of years, even with

the recent growth in supply of rooms. However, whilst average daily room rates in Sheffield

are growing year an on year but the change is small.

To be more comparable with other Core Cities we would need our room rate to increase by

16%, based on the Hotel Price Index (shown on the next page):

City 2012 2011 % change

Bristol £75 £74 1%

Liverpool £73 £77 -6%

Manchester £73 £78 -5%

Newcastle-upon-Tyne £72 £81 -11%

Leeds £66 £66 0%

Birmingham £63 £61 3%

Sheffield £61 £63 -3%

Nottingham £59 £62 -5% Source: Hotels.com Hotel Price Index

TM

The Hotel Price Index review of global hotel prices: Jan-Jun 2012

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Source: Tripadvisor (October 2012)

The number of 3, 4 and 5 star hotels (as listed on Tripadvisor) remained the same since

2011 in Sheffield. We were the only Core City to remain unchanged, with all other cities

except Leeds showing increases in the total hotel numbers.

This means our offer is static at a time when most other cities are increasing numbers,

meaning a key driver for spend in the city is not improving and becoming comparatively

worse.

On the review ratings given by members of the public, Sheffield showed a substantial

increase in the number of people who rated their stay at 4 out of 5 or more, putting us in the

top three on this measure and the second highest city for stays ranked 4.5 or above.

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Restaurant Offer:

Source: Tripadvisor (October 2012)

All Core Cities showed an increase in the number of restaurants reviewed by people on

Tripadvisor.

The proportion of our restaurants at the higher-end of the price scale has increased since

last year. However, this is true for all other places reviewed and therefore we still have the

lowest proportion of high-end restaurants of all the Core Cities.

This measure (and a number of others being used) are for Sheffield as a whole, rather than

just the City Centre. We know if we looked at restaurants in particular within the S1 postcode,

our offer would look significantly reduced.

Again, this is a key driver of spend that needs to attract affluent people to use the city centre

along with a higher level of spend to ensure the economic contribution of the city.

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Retail

Retail ranking comparison:

Source: CACI’s Retail Footprint

This from the CACI Retail Footprint, which is calculated based on the number and value of

credit and debit card transactions recorded from a major high street bank. It is updated

annually and analyses current and future shopping patterns, classifying retail centres into

over 50 different types according to retail mix, market positioning and evolving shopping role.

Five of the eight core cities are in the top-eight retail centres in the UK, whereas Sheffield

currently ranks 20th and has dropped one place from the year before. Approximately half of

the top twenty retail centres saw spend drop between 2010 & 2011, included Sheffield, which

also dropped to a rank of 20 from 19 the year before. Only one of the Core Cities

(Manchester) saw a growth in retail spend over this period.

Although this comparison sees Meadowhall fall two places in the ranking for 2011, they saw

a small growth over the 12 months shown. Even combining retail spend of Meadowhall and

Sheffield sees us significantly behind Manchester (excluding the Trafford Centre).

All of the city centres above Sheffield in the CACI Ranking have benefited from retail

investment of the scale of NRQ over the last ten to fifteen years for instance;

Glasgow - Buchanan St Galleries, St Enochs, Newcastle - Eldon Sq extension,

Birmingham - Bull Ring, Norwich - Castle Mall and Chapelfield,

Manchester - Arndale renewal, Leicester - High Cross,

Liverpool - Liverpool One, Bristol - Cabot Circus,

Leeds- Victoria Qtr,Trinity etc, Reading - the Oratory,

Nottingham - Broadmarsh, Victoria, Exchange Milton Keynes - MK Centre,

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Retail turnover by category of goods – Meadowhall and Sheffield City Centre

Total Homeware

Clothing/ Footwear

Audio visual

Chemists Goods

Misc Total All

City Centre £193.5m £243.7m £103.63m £68.53m £221.04m £830.41m

Meadowhall £34.9m £309.05m £20.99m £34.86m £271.15m £670.95m Source: Retail Analysis done by GVA in 2012, using the 2010 Cushman and Wakefield Sheffield Retail Study

University Popularity:

Universities play a key role in talent attraction, particularly in Sheffield where spend by

students is likely to contribute significantly to the economy of the city.

Applications to Universities in Sheffield have decreased at a slightly faster rate than other

Core Cities, leading to a drop in the ratio of applications per acceptances (shown below).

Although the number of university acceptances have also declined in Sheffield, this is at a

comparable rate to others.

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This is based on all Universities and Colleges within the Core Cities. Overall, we are the only

Core City who saw the ratio of applicants per place reduce between 2010 and 2011.

Sheffield also saw the biggest drop in total applicant numbers over the same period

compared to other cities.

We continue to be one of two Core Cities in the top ten for student experience: