cinema and car park. The refurbishment
was thorough, including stripping the older
design motifs, and widening some voids
between the two levels to improve sight
lines of retail units.
Bringing further interest to the central
space, the first floor colonnade has a GRP
waveform soffit. “We’ve used colour and
form to inject interest into the surfaces we
have available to us,” says Cos. He sums up
the approach both inside and out as trying
to not upstage, but instead enhance the
shop fronts: “We still want them to sing as
the main point of interest, but you don’t
want the background to be so monolithic
that it feels dull.”
The basement below the site was “a vast
servicing area,” but as well as improving its
efficiency, the architects also created new
retail space here, a further efficient use of
existing structure. “It’s so important that
buildings are able to adapt and be
repurposed and reconfigured, and this
concrete construction didn’t really lend
itself to being reconfigured,” he says. Some
“clever structural works” were required to
address level changes, adds the architect,
and shells were created for retailers “thatthey could configure really easily.”
The fact the majority of the project is
naturally ventilated adds to its
sustainability credentials, as does its
reuse of a substantial existing building, i.e.
the concrete car park and basement.
However Cos Constantinou asserts that
this is under-recognised by official
sustainability accreditation – he notes that
BREEAM “doesn’t include recognition of
that.” Despite this, the project was
designed to achieve BREEAM ‘Very Good.’Conclusion
This major extension and refurbishment
was finished on programme and to budget,
with the full development cost being £180m
including £13m for the refurbishment.
Client, public and the retailers have
reacted “really positively,” says the
project’s architect, adding that some of their
fitouts “have really embraced what we
were trying to achieve.” However while
retail is at the core of this project, it
represents a much richer mix of attractions
and amenities to help ensure its place as a
vibrant, and viable, long term proposition
for the town. ENLIVENING THE EXISTING
The project included a thorough refurbishment
of the existing centre, including widening voids
PROJECT FACTFILEClient: Intu
Architect: Leslie Jones Architecture
Structural Engineer:
Waterman Structures
M&E: Hoare Lea
Gross 5oor area (extension):
400,000 ft^2
Cost: £180m42PROJECT REPORT: RETAIL DEVELOPMENTSWWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK ADF NOVEMBER 2019
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