Building work under way for £450m city revamp

Thirteen months after demolition work started on the £450m redevelopment of Coventry city centre, the first of its new buildings is rising from the rubble.

City Centre South is Coventry City Council's project to re-design the southern half of the city centre. It is expected to bring more than 1,500 new homes, 18,000 sq m (21,529 sq yds) of public space, restaurants, shops and other leisure facilities.

Lynette Kelly, the council's deputy leader, said the retail sector is changing and "people might go to shops, take a quick look around but then go home and order the size they want to get delivered to their house".

Such changing habits meant original plans for a flagship store were abandoned.

Some public art was lost, but one crucial piece has been saved and will be used in the new development

William Mitchell's Grade II-listed concrete mural, which once adorned the frontage of the popular Three Tuns pub, in what was the Bull Yard, will be incorporated in the new scheme.

Stuart Bale, the project director for developers Hill Group UK, said the demolition work had revealed more of the city's lost past, in the shape of the former army barracks that the Barracks car park was named for.

"We've had a scope of archaeological work that we've now completed to uncover that, record it, understand how it was built, and actually a lot of the barracks itself now is going to be preserved," he said.

"We're working with our consultants to make sure that heritage for the city is not lost."

However, the on-going work is proving a tough time for traders at the listed Coventry indoor market.

The hoardings screening the development run along the perimeter of the building, obscuring it from the rest of the city centre, they said.

Footfall is down, with 17 stalls closing as a result, although the city council has reduced the rents for existing stallholders and put up signage on the hoardings, telling potential customers the market is open.

Christopher Charley, the stallholders' committee secretary who also runs a perfume and cosmetics outlet, said the work has made for difficult trading conditions.

"It has been very, very tough. We did lose a lot of traders in 2025," he said.

"We have rebounded and gained a few traders back because of the rent deal, but we really need to be working with the council to try and actively promote, help and engage with the public to get them back into the market."

According to the developers, hoardings are to be removed when the first phase of construction is complete in late 2027.

That should mean the market is more accessible and a main feature of the overall redevelopment, which should be finished and fully open in 2034.

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