Decision details

As part of the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF) Front Door Interventions Scheme (FDS) the ReNew project has been allocated £300K to administer grants to businesses looking to occupy and renovate vacant properties in the FHSF zone.

The decision being sought is to allocate the second round of funds, which have a value of £50,000 taking the allocated funds to £163,397.37 and enter into grant agreements with the businesses that have gone through the application approval process to proceed with the occupation and renovation of vacant properties in the FHSF zone.

A decision report was approved by Executive Director, in consultation with the Interim Director of Legal Services and the Chair of the Finance Sub-Committee on 29^th September 2022 to allocate funding to 3 businesses to proceed with the occupation and renovation of vacant properties in the FHSF zone.  This report proposes an amendment to the address that The Great Escape Game will occupy and renovate from Unit 16/17 Orchard Square, Sheffield, S1 2FB to Unit 5/6 Orchard Square, Sheffield S1 2FB.  The funding allocation will remain the same.

That the Executive Director, in consultation with the Director of Legal Services and the Chair of the Finance Sub-Committee:

(1)      approves the amendment to the address approved in the previous report that The Great Escape Game will occupy and renovate from Unit 16/17 Orchard Square, Sheffield, S1 2FB to Unit 5/6 Orchard Square, Sheffield S1 2FB; and

(2)      approves a further allocation of £50,000 of THE FHSF FDS Renew Project funding to successful businesses as set out in this report, to enable them to occupy vacant properties and begin refurbishment and enter into grant agreements with the Council on that basis.

Renew project intended outputs for 2022/2024 –

·       Repurpose and reuse of 6-10 vacant premises in Fargate, High Street and Chapel Walk areas FHSF zone

·       Refurbished and repurposed vacant commercial floorspace of4280-4660 square foot (this has already been met and surpassed)

·       30-35 jobs created

·       Lower vacancy rates

·       Increased footfall

·       Vibrant animated area

·       Targeted impact

·       Critical mass occupancy

·       Collective marketing and collaboration

·       Deter ASB through natural surveillance

·       Business growth

·       Business generation of start-ups

·       Expanding of existing businesses

·       Public realm improvements

·       Positive public perceptions

An alternative option was to not use a specific property as part of the grant application, but it was felt that this would become a long-drawn-out process.  In order to save time and work for both applicants and Council resources the application process has been around a specific property that the business would like to take on and which fits their business’s needs.  Keeping the project in real-time of a very fluid economic landscape.  This has enabled real time grants to be administered for businesses ready to proceed.