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The future of Wolverhampton city centre is brought into focus today - with the release of an amazing video tour of the planned Summer Row shopping centre.
The detailed computerised images are the closest shoppers are likely to get until the £300 million development is opened in 2010.
It shows how department store Debenhams and other leading shops will transform Temple Street and Cleveland Street, and how a landmark building, which could house a multiplex cinema or even a hotel - will revolutionise the city’s skyline along Snow Hill.
And they reveal the split-level design of the complex, which will feature row after row of designer shops, boutiques and leading high-street names.
The design of two public squares, which will boast water features and trendy restaurants and bars with outdoor seating areas, can also be seen for the first time.
The scheme will see the creation of two new shopping streets, packed with 85 retailers, which are believed to include high-profile chain stores H&M, Zara and Next.
Summer Row - the street from which the development gets its name - will disappear under the plans. A new street will be created in its place with shops either side.
While the shopping centre will be mainly open-air, covered walkways and escalators to each floor are included in the design, similar to Birmingham’s designer shopping mall The Mailbox.
Cleveland Street will become entirely pedestrianised, with a tree-lined walkway linking the new complex to the Wulfrun and Mander Centres.
More than 2,000 jobs will be created - 1,000 during the construction period and another 1,000 when the scheme is complete.
Multi Development, which is building the shopping mecca with WolverhamptonCity Council, laid bare their plans for the city to business, economy and regeneration leaders at an exclusive screening at Wolverhampton’s Light House cinema yesterday.
Despite not yet having a planning inspector’s final seal of approval, bosses said Summer Row was close to becoming a reality because the plans were so far down the line and millions of pounds already ploughed into the ambitious project.
Paul Sargent, Multi Development managing director, said:”I’m confident the public will be as excited as we are as this development will surpass any other in the region in terms of its mix of uses and quality of architecture.
“We are raising the benchmark and creating a new high quality retail offer to complement the existing high street mix.”
The planning inspector’s decision is expected by the end of this month, and if the green light is given to Summer Row, it is hoped construction will begin in March 2008, with a view for it to open in October 2010.
Around 200 existing shops and businesses on the proposed site are having to either close or relocate to make way for the development.
26 Comments
It could be anywhere; Bullring, Meadowhall, Trafford Centre. What does it say about Wolverhampton?
Totally amazing. Can’t wait for Summer Row!
To say that it’s could be the Bull Ring, Meadowhall or the Trafford Centre is praise. Summer Row is Wolverhampton’s statement to the world who it wants to compete with as a shopping destination.
Wolverhampton will move further ahead of centres the likes of Telford and Walsall and put itself very close to the likes for Manchester and Birmingham with this fantastic development.
Summer Row shows the developer’s and council’s ambition for the city - a darn sight more than some of its fickle, pound-shop citizens.
“The future of Wolverhampton city centre is brought into focus today - with the release of an amazing video tour of the planned Summer Row shopping centre.”
It says it all, inappropriate, ill concieved, cheap, tacky, out of context. A failed primary school design effort could do better. clearly no consideration has been made to local climate, the sun angle in the fly through was impossible for our geographical location. The walkways are not wide enough, it will be a daylighting & drainge nightmare. Not withstanding the enevitable litigation arising from the balcony detailing which are a scally’s paradise and an acessability nightmare for the impaired. Honestly, choose any first year architecture student at random and they could highlight at least a dozen design failures. It is devoid of contextuality, materiality, environmental and urban consideration.A masterclass in what not to build. I wait with baited breath (it won’y be long) for the onslaught of antisocial behaviour, consequential economic decline.
At least it will look a lot better than what it does now, Cleveland Street always looks like a lost part of the town, and Temple Street is full of the people visiting the Benefit Office, which is always full of some “undesirable” people. Hope they are moving that too!
Looks amazing to be fair and it is going to improve the City Centre immensely. I can’t wait
dont understand where all this negative feedback is coming from, the construction and shops are creating jobs - and providing shoppers with alternative options
Lets look @ the positive aspects and i’m no a architect - is the design really that bad?
It looks very impressive. But I wonder if having it open to the elements will create wind tunnals and a cold shopping environment as did The Mander centre before the roof and the doors were added.
On first viewing this looks to be a nightmare for the disabled and even those more capable.and where are the car parks?
The whole place looks soul less.
It looks like the designers have forgotten one basic thing. If it is left open to the elements it will be empty from October to April. How many designer shops will be open when there are no customers, just like most open High Streets?
You need to be as thin as the matchstick men on the video, just to get around. It looks soulless, devoid of character and no doubt will be selling the same high st pap as can be found anywhere. Local shops run by locals will be non-existent and no doubt it will satisfy the consumer oriented dummies whose raison d’etre is to shop amongst glib undemanding surroundings. Let’s not praise this carbuncle generating money for the men in suits in the City, let’s assess it for what it is and hope it never gets off the ground.
This is more like it!!, this is what Wolverhampton has been waiting for, a place that people will tell their friends about and come back to time after time.
If Birmingham can do it with the Bull Ring then why not Wolverhampton?, I can’t wait!!
1. It’s open to the weather: this point was taken up right at the start and the developers and the planning authority seem convinced it will work.
2. Where are the car parks: they are underground at the Snow Hill end. The video does not show them.
3. Is it Wolverhampton: the scale and height are fine; much will depend on the final design of the exteriors on the perimiters of the site. If the video is accurate on details, then the buidling shown on Cleveland Street and facing the iconic building is quite unacceptable.
4. What looks like a disaster is the iconic building. The whole concept is nonsensical. And this proposed building seems to present a blank and boring facade to Snow Hill. It also fails to inetegrate the development with the existing shopping areas. Indeed it looks as if it will act as a barrier between the Central Library area and the new development.
5. I hope that when the final plans go on public display, everyone who has written something here - and everyone else - will respond by writing to the council. It will be interesting to see if the council, which has been promoting this scheme and is working closely with the developers, will be able to take on board any pubic concerns at all.
Where is the cycle parking? Not a single cyclist was depicted in the video. If everyone is expected to drive there then the surrounding streets will be jammed with cars and not just one or two as shown on the video. I have just returned from holiday in Germany and found Cologne a first class experience. You can cycle almost anywhere including pedestrianized streets, the huge squares around the cathedral and the opposite way to motor traffic in one way streets. There is mile upon mile of cycle parking. Huge numbers of Germans cycle regularly in everyday clothes. Many are young women: the group which is notably absent from cycling in this country.
Wolverhampton has the potential to be a leading city in Europe but not until we get rid of this obsession with trying to jam as many cars as possible into the centre. I am a car driver as well as a cyclist.
Reading some of the negative comments on here. I feel like the people in Wolverhampton, is why the City can’t move forward.
As regards to the anchor building on the Snow Hill junction, i think is will look amazing, and will be quite iconic for the City. I will look good to mix old with new.
Take for example the Bull Ring, and especially the Selfridges Building, which is just simply stunning, and when you put that next to the church, i think every thing fits in well.
This is i’m sure will be much the same for this development and will look a darn site better than the old Rackhams building!
Lets stop thinking negative about this, i’m sure the same thing happend in Birmingham, but look how good that turned out!
Lets get some iconic building’s in our City!
Looks fantastic on the virtual screen and I suport the new developement but how are we going to be able to cart our shopping around, may be a case for increased online shopping as there does not seem to be an easy enough sccess to public or private transport.Perhaps investments could be made for a travelator to the bus, train or metro stations for those heavier bits of shopping.However, the City does need a face lift and it should bring more trade, investment and employment to the city.Perhaps this will help reduce fears instilled in people such as Ang in a recent comment,(comment 5) who has experienced undesrable people on Temple streets Benefits Office, as hopefully these individuals may be able to move into employment within the summer Row developement that I am sure most of these people would love to have.
I work in retail and have been awaiting the start of the summer row development since the first whispers of it possible development began.
I currently work over in Merryhill, it seems to always be busy and has a buzz I feel is sadly missing from Wolverhampton.
I can’t say that this is going to be the answer but I do think that it will help create renewed interest in the area. More choice can’t be a bad thing and if it gives locals a wider choice of products without having to travel 30 mins to find them.
I agree the American style outdoor feel they have gone for maybe is not ideal for the climate, but they did appear to have some covered areas and if you are going to shop or eat you are not going to be outdoors for long.
I hope it goes ahead. I hope it regenerates the city centre and brings more people to the area and give the existing local businesses a boost.
Amazing? …yes
1. Causing distraction, consternation, confusion, dismay; stupefying, dreadful. Obs.
and no,
2. Astounding, astonishing, wonderful, great beyond expectation.
It may be a novelty at first but give it a year or so and it will be as desolate as it is now.looks and feels like a mass of small alleyways with no consideration for the physically impaired.This introduction of a cafe culture with all outlets trading against one another in the same area spells trouble if you ask me.Wolverhampton is not Paris or Lisbon or some other cosmopolitan capital. Because of our Cities location, People will always be after a bargain. But it will be difficult amidst expensive designer shops. Then there is the employment factor of course. It may be creating a few hundred jobs at the most, but that is cancelled out by the loss of employment due to the closure and extinction of the present retailers and outlets. We know from the experience of the
Mander Centre that too much close competion and exhorbitant rents means closure and loss of jobs for many businesses trying to gain a foothold in the main shopping area. Regeneration I dont think so!
If the people of Wolverhampton don’t want it, we’ll have it in DUDLEY! With a roof!
I Just wish it could have been completed years ago - we have always been promised an Entertainment Centre - since the Gaumont was lost - There needs to be entertainment for the over 30’s. Hope I live longer enough to see the life come back into Wolverhampton - I really look forward to it.
there is loads of intrest in the new summerrow but have people thought about the shops that are there now. those people are making a living and the council have done nothing to show surport to them i think its disgusting.we are all in for the new look but the shops that wanted to stay should have been given the chance. as for loads of jobs all the development work will be done by out of town contractors and all the jobs will be part time . what about the many jobs that are been lost beacause of this development
Making Wolverhampton a smarter more interesting place to shop, excellent idea!To do it by forcing long established small businesses to close, dumb idea!
Wolverhampton small businesses owned and run by local people have been bringing shoppers into Wolverhampton for years. They offer variety, interest and service levels that the large national retailers do not.
The Council should have given existing businesses the opportunity to be part of the new city centre. Demolishing their shops and destroying their livelyhood is all they have to look forward to!
Looks great. Just WHAT was ordered by the Doctor. If it gets built, I’m a Dutchman!
you have to remember the city as a whole, the other developments will spread shoppers out from queens square to st johns retail park,
theres nothing worse then having a massive space and no-one using it,
the development will bring class and allow shops that people have to travel to other centres to be close to where they live.
just look at primark and new look, they are success stories of Wolverhampton!
more squares in the city will improve peoples use of the city centre as a relaxation area.
Blimey if every town aint the same nowadays..identikit shopping malls, same old shops.
Boring Boring boring.
this looks like a mish mash of a few different but same places ive been too….nuneaton,new part of kidderminster etc etc.
The place Wolverhampton should be looking towards for inspiration is ..
Brighton, specially “the Lanes” area in Brighton…always busy & bursting with INDEPENDENT shops, a joy to shop there.
Of course the powers that be in Wolverhampton wouldnt dare try and help people self up their own independent shops…as its so easy to have the same old bland shops.
All that will happen here is the same thats happened in Birmingham.
Where stores flocked to the bullring but shut their other shops in the pallasades/pavillions or town centre…
go and see the units standing empty in those places.
Some units in the mander centre have been shut for years (see the old Our Price store).
So wolverhampton isnt that thriving a shopping town is it!
And as im on about record shops…how about Wolverhampton (a so called city) getting a decent record shop!! ONE RECORD SHOP in a city that boasts a large student population is embarrasing..
(and its a terrible shop at that)
Even a place like Taunton puts wolverhampton to shame with a mix of independent record shops and the likes of hmv etc.
As for the Mailbox, i got to Birmingham regularly, park by the mailbox, never go in there & never see anyone walking towards it either..
this project will either be the same or will kill the mander centre.