New Primark taking shape in Walsall town centre

The new Primark store is at the centre of the transformation of Old Square Shopping Centre – creating 150 jobs.

The exterior of the building has now been completed with the kit out to take to be opened in the summer.

A timelapse video has been produced which charts work from the start to the finish of the construction.

A Co-op is also due to open after Walsall Council invested £8m from its own reserves to get the project off the ground.

Some demolition work was carried out including the old Tesco building to enable the new stores to be built.

Regeneration chief, councillor Mohammed Nazir, welcomed the impending arrival of the big name store following the building work.

He said: "It has been on time, the contractors have been on schedule to deliver and hand it over to Primark to start kitting it out the site.

"Having a Primark in Walsall will have a spin off benefit to the traders and local outlets.

"We will have more people visiting Walsall, if we have more footfall it is good for the other shops in the area."

It is part of a series of regeneration projects which have been earmarked for the borough.

The Old Square Shopping Centre is to get a new glass entrance as part of its revamp.

A new Walsall Market is being planned at The Bridge which will have demountable stalls along with a food zone.

There are also plans to create 11 units for retail, restaurants and leisure in Digbeth and Lower Hall Lane as part of the £12 million St Matthew's Quarter development which is expected to create around 200 new jobs overall.

Homeware store B&M and Poundland have signed up for the multi-million pound shopping and leisure complex.

Work is also being carried out on two separate multi-million pound cinema and leisure complex schemes in the town centre at Walsall Waterfront and next to Tesco Extra.

At the Waterfront, the scheme also promises to bring Chiquito, Pizza Express, Bella Italia and Hungry Horse.