New England Quarter - Commercial Areas

Commercial Areas

A 4,180 square metres (45,000 sq ft) Sainsbury's supermarket (total "sales area" accessible to the public: 2,323 square metres (25,000 sq ft)) forms a major component both of Block C and of the New England Quarter itself. It extends across the east-west space of the block; as a result of the steeply sloping land at this point, the store frontage faces the newly built Ann Square and the newly pedestrianised New England Street, while the rear is at basement (sub-ground floor) level. A car park with 194 spaces for shoppers has been created beneath the store, and is linked to it by travelators. The service area and loading bay extend beneath the new road between Blocks C and D, and into the ground beneath Block D. The new store opened on 1 March 2007. It replaced a smaller outlet in London Road, which had opened in 1974 and which had seen little refurbishment since the original planning application for a Sainsbury's on the New England Quarter site was put through in 1997.

In November 2005, Block K was granted planning permission for a four-storey office development (B1-category), in addition to the hotel and public open space therein. The amount of office space had been reduced, in favour of more hotel space, since the date when outline planning permission was granted for the New England Quarter development as a whole (September 2003). 2,793 square metres (30,060 sq ft) of office space will be provided, although the original master plan had indicated 3,159 square metres (34,000 sq ft). Blocks A and Block B have also been provided with a small amount of space for retail use.