As of 2021, plans for an extension are currently under consideration, for completion in the 2020s, which would make Meadowhall the 11th largest shopping centre in the United Kingdom.

Architecturally, the original construction of Meadowhall in the early 1990s was inspired by the Place d'Orléans shopping centre in Ottawa, Canada.

The shopping centre was built by Bovis[2] on the site previously occupied by Hadfields' East Hecla steelworks.

There was a Namco Station arcade in The Oasis food court which closed in September 2007 after more than 15 years at the shopping centre.

The small franchise, along with Greggs, Massarella's Coffee, Crawshaws Butchers and Pollard's Tea and Coffee were forcibly shut in May 2008, only had just recently spent thousands of pounds on refurbishment after the 2007 floods – these stores were closed down so Meadowhall could create larger stores which are now occupied by Yankee Candle, TUI, Hays Travel, Quiz and Yours Clothing.

In 2017, Park Lane was modernised during the 2015–2017 £60 million refurbishment, and is now seen as the most upmarket area of Meadowhall, with stores such as Pretty Green, Flannels, Hugo Boss, White Stuff and Yo!

[8] Meadowhall celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015, and announced in the same year a £60 million interior refurbishment to make it fit with newer centres opened since 1990.

Sushi, Hollister, Schuh, JD Sports and the opening of new stores such as Tag Heuer, Flannels, Joe Browns, Skinny Dip and River Island Children making the centre being perceived as more "upmarket".

Scenes from the music video of the Sheffield-based duo Moloko's first single "Fun For Me" were shot in the Oasis area of the shopping centre.

The majority of shops on the ground floor were boarded up for weeks on end (some for up to two months) so the interiors could be refitted – the centre fully relaunched in late September 2007.

With conditions growing worse across the area, many shops and businesses began to close, with a number of people being left stranded in the Meadowhall premises until the following morning.

The interchange has a large bus station with routes covering most of South Yorkshire, but especially the local Sheffield and Rotherham area.

The Resource Recovery Centre, which opened in 2006, operates a conveyor belt system to separate out types of waste, from paper to plastic, cardboard to cans.

Big Brother Watch's chief executive Silkie Carlo was reported by the BBC as saying, "There is an epidemic of facial recognition in the UK.

The collusion between police and private companies in building these surveillance nets around popular spaces is deeply disturbing".