Grand Central's retail future shaping up: Final crane removed from inside Grand Central's new John Lewis building

Monday 13 Jan 2014

Grand Central's retail future shaping up

Region & Route:

The delivery of exciting new retail opportunities in the heart of Birmingham took another step forward over the weekend as the last tower crane used to construct the new John Lewis shop, part of Grand Central Birmingham, was dismantled using another 500 tonne mobile crane at Birmingham New Street station.

Construction of the John Lewis building is expected to complete next month after which preparations will begin to open the new department store alongside the rest of Grand Central in 2015.

Anchored by a full line John Lewis, Grand Central Birmingham will bring over 40 new premium and high quality shops and nearly 20 restaurants and cafes to the city. Grand Central will be integrated with the world class Birmingham New Street station at the heart of the city’s retail offer.

Notes to editors

Grand Central forms part of the overall regeneration of New Street station, due for completion in 2015.

The project is backed by Birmingham City Council, Department for Transport, Network Rail and Centro and will be delivered by Network Rail alongside its delivery partner Mace.

Over 1000 new retail jobs are expected to be created by the development and Birmingham City Council are working alongside Network Rail and John Lewis to offer a large proportion of those jobs to local people.

It’s a £600 million project for the regeneration of the station, with a further £150 million investment in the transformation of the Pallasades into Grand Central Birmingham.

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