Rewind 2013: Lincoln’s year in business

As 2013 draws to a close, we take a look at the year’s biggest business developments and present a concise breakdown of new openings, planning, investment and achievements.

From January to December, here are The Lincolnite’s best business picks of 2013:

Waterside Shopping Centre brings H&M

In April, the owners of Waterside Shopping Centre in Lincoln submitted a planning application for a £9 million redevelopment project. The plans included the addition of fashion retailers H&M and Next to the city centre. You can see the initial plans, provided by NK2 Architects in the story here.

Work officially began on the multi-million development in July. The reconstruction plans were officially launched when City of Lincoln Council Chief Executive Andrew Taylor took a sledgehammer to a wall.

The first section of Waterside’s ‘new look’ was revealed when the fashion chain New Look re-opened its doors in December. You can see our gallery of that revamp here.

Siemens complete move to Teal Park

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

April saw Siemens officially open its new gas turbine service workshop at Teal Park in Lincoln. The centre includes a new workshop with a high-speed balancer, new modern offices and dedicated customer facility. The Lincolnite went on a tour of the centre. See the gallery here.

In September, Teal Park was awarded for its sustainable design and building works.

Lincoln University Technical College on the way

The Lincoln UTC designs by John Roberts Architects

Proposed designs for the first Lincoln University Technical College (UTC) behind the Greestones Centre on Lindum Road were unveiled in April.

The £7.5 million investment will see the construction of a bespoke building at the rear of the Grade II listed Greestone Centre, and the Watkins Building on site will be reconditioned as well.

The Lincoln UTC is set to open in September 2014. Read the full story here.

Still no progress at The Lawn

At the start of 2013, the City of Lincoln Council invited tenders for a lease to operate The Lawn in Lincoln, after one bid was rejected from a local businessman.

Then in February, Mouchel ended their lawn operations contract, which was thought to have resulted in up to 10 redundancies.

By the time the summer season came around, The Lawn was planned to go back up for sale after the bid for a lease was proved unsuccessful, but there has been no progress with the sale since, and The Lawn remains a disused jewel in Lincoln’s crown.

New student flats complex built

Mock views of the new student flats complex, flush with the RSPCA shop.

A new student development on St Mark’s Street made way for 120 student rooms, with studio apartments, cluster rooms and ‘buddy rooms’. The project, by JR Pickstock Ltd and Elements Europe, meant an eastbound-only closure of the road for eight weeks to allow for the build.

Lincoln Broadgate Premier Inn opened

After several months of delays, the Premier Inn on Broadgate in Lincoln opened in June, with hopes to boost the local economy by £6.5 million. The chain created 50 new jobs for residents of the city.

Lucy Tower revamp

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Structural work at Lucy Tower Car Park in Lincoln, meant that the site was closed from March 2013, for a planned 20 weeks.

But in June, further delays to opening were announced as engineers discovered more repairs were needed than originally anticipated.

When September came around, the City of Lincoln Council made the announcement that the car park would not be ready in time for Christmas. The delay on site resulted from the discovery that large areas of steel within the concrete on each floor were far more corroded than initially thought.

On December 5 however, Lincoln Christmas Market shoppers were met with the news that the car park was ready ahead of schedule. In it’s first 84 hours of opening, over 2,500 tickets were purchased.

Plans for new £28m student flats

Photo: Stem Architects

Developers submitted plans to build a new £28 million student accommodation block by the University of Lincoln in December. The development, called The Gateway, will provide a large number of high quality student homes, plus commercial frontage on the ground floor. Read the full story here.

Wyvern House opens for business

Wyvern House, located on Kesteven Street, is a new office space development by Lincolnshire County Council ahead of the East West Link Road development. Businesses were invited to view the new commercial space on December 2. Read the full story and see our gallery here.

Eco homes proposed at Lincolnshire Showground

Proposals are in place to bring a number of eco homes to a plot of land at the Lincolnshire Showground near Lincoln. The eco housing development by Gusto Group will see 18 homes built, constructed to the highest standard of sustainability, which won’t need a central heating system to keep warm. Read the full story here.

Plans for Lincoln Agricultural College campus

Image: CAD Associates

Lincoln-based architectural consultants CAD Associates have also submitted a planning application on behalf of Bishop Burton College for a £13.5 million Agricultural College Campus adjacent to the Lincolnshire Showground. Read the full story here.

Project to turn Red Arrows home into tourist attraction

In October, ambitious plans to transform the home of Lincolnshire’s Red Arrows into a worldwide tourist attraction were being drafted. See the full story and plans here.

Lincoln’s first Sainsbury’s Local opened

In February, The first Sainsbury’s convenience store in Lincoln opened its doors on Carholme Road. The shop, which cost £1.4 million to build, created 25 new jobs and a much needed cash point in the city centre.

Read the full story here.

Local company named best UK construction employer

In March, local company Lindum were named as the top construction employer in the UK and 6th overall in the Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For list 2013. Read the full story here.

Carluccio’s opened in Lincoln

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Making a grand entry on to Lincoln’s ‘Little Italy’, Carluccio himself attended the opening of Lincoln’s addition to the chain restaurant in April. The restaurant and deli shop replaced the building that previously traded as Lamb and Flag pub.

See the full story and gallery here.

Freewatt splits in three

Lincoln green energy supplier Freewatt split its business into three in April following. Freewatt owner and previous Managing Director Julian Patrick became the company’s CEO so he can focus on business development.

In August, the company proposed to build a solar farm in Branston, which would provide electricity for 6,000-8,000 houses.

The company continued to work with Lincolnshire Co-op on an energy investment project that saw photovoltaic panels added to the roofs of stores around the area.

Moka and Shack nightclub opened

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The popular club, formerly Ritzy, JJ’s and Pulse, closed for redevelopment on June 29. On August 13 The Lincolnite went on a firs-look tour of Lincoln’s new club Moka and Shack. Read the full story and see the gallery here.

Dogma goes Craft Bar and Kitchen

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The Lincoln High Street bar and restaurant, which used to be Dogma, had a makeover and reopened as Craft under new owners. Craft Lincoln officially opened to the public on September 6, creating 27 jobs. Read the full story and see the gallery here.

Former footballer opens Italian bar

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

On November 15, the city met its newest family-run bar and deli. The Lincolnite visited Bar Unico after launching and went on a first-look tour of the business. See the full story and gallery here.

Fresh look for Walkabout

Lincoln’s Aussie-themed Walkabout bar was the third in the country to get a £500,000 refit.

Opening its doors officially on November 21, The Lincolnite visited Walkabout on the High Street for a first-look preview of the revamped space. See the story and gallery here.

The Rest on Steep Hill

The Rest Hotel is a new boutique bed & breakfast accommodation, in the heart of the city’s Cathedral quarter. The business opened in time for the Lincoln Christmas Market 2013 and created 12 new jobs.

The Lincolnite visited The Rest just before their grand opening for a special tour. See our full story and gallery here.

New American-style restaurant

Back in January, diners in the city welcomed new American smokehouse Ribs ‘n’ Bibs to The Strait in Lincoln. The restaurant opening created around 11 new jobs in the city and inspired meat-lovers far and wide.

Read the full story here.

Accountants in their pants for charity

Calendar boys (L-R): Mark Bradshaw, Chris Hubbard, Mark Poplett, David Holmes, Andrew Manderfield, Jason Robinson, Alex Thompson, Daniel Rippon, Ben Halstead and Paul Tutin. Also to appear, but not in this picture James Pinchbeck and Ben Robinson.

Of course we had to include the dashing boys from Streets Chartered Accountants in our Year in Business roundup. In October 2013, 12 brave partners and staff posed for a charity calendar in aid of St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice. See our story and sneak peek gallery here.