Summer Row video tour

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.