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© John Kees, Shepherd Construction
By January 2011 all of the main structure was in place
approval for the £7 million loan from Yorkshire Forward and Wakefield City Council. The deal was concluded one hour before the midnight March 31 deadline, thus securing more than 300 construction jobs. “We were able to go back on site, with the intention of finish-
ing the scheme in 60 weeks,” says Sargeant. The new schedule was met and the centre opened in early
May this year. Wakefield-based DLA Architecture was responsi- ble for the original design, and Sovereign Land appointed Leslie Jones Architecture to give it a peer review, after which it was updated with mostly cosmetic changes. The floorspace and the main concept of the malls remained largely the same, but some of the finishes and sizes of units were altered. “The overall feel is very attractive and contemporary, but it
also feels quite luxurious for a traditional northern city centre that has lots of Forties, Fifties and Sixties buildings,” says Sargeant. “People have been very complimentary and judging by the fact that more than a million people visited the centre in the
© John Kees, Shepherd Construction
first six weeks of opening, it’s a definite success story.” Construction director Neil Clarke agrees: “It’s an attractive,
open, contemporary shopping centre. The first thing you see is the ETFE roof, which lets light in and creates an airy quality. The malls were originally open, but Leslie Jones decided that wouldn’t be the best shopping experience and added a roof over three-quarters of them, with 2,500 sq m of two-layer big, curved ETFE cushions. It’s the same material that has been used in the Eden Project roof, but it’s probably unusual to see such a large amount used in one project.” Sargeant is a great advocate of the indoors/outdoors quality
that has been created: “You’re protected from the weather because you’ve got a canopy, but you’ve also got the light – and it’s opened up the space for some retailing in the malls. Also, sev- eral of the food outlets have spread onto the malls because they’ve got protection from the elements now. “About two-thirds of the mall areas are under cover. It has such a pleasant feel, going into an indoors/outdoor mall rather than
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