New Riverside, Shrewsbury

Scheme features

The developers maintain New Riverside will be built with high quality materials and improve connectivity in the town.

The reconfigured shopping centres will link with the town centre from the main shopping thoroughfare of Pride Hill through to Raven Meadows multi-storey car park, the riverside and Frankwell, Roushill Bank with access to Mardol and to the bus station. New 'multi level streets' covered by a petal roof of the design seen at Bristol's Cabot Circus and Trinity Leeds will meet at a central public space and terrace down to the river at Smithfield Road.

The predominantly 5-storey development has been designed by architects Chapman Taylor as three distinct 'blocks':-

• Block One has a strong, vertical frame and largely houses the department store and restaurant terrace at roof level;
• Block Two is separated into a brick landmark building with restaurant occupancy stepping back towards Smithfield Road, an active office frontage facing Roushill and a rounded, semi-active neo-classical retail frontage facing Roushill Bank;
• Block Three fronts the rear of the Darwin centre, covering over a section of the service and car park access road of Raven Meadows.

Approximate proposed changes in gross floorspace for A1, A2 and A3 unit classes in each of the three existing shopping centres:

History

The malls have shared a turbulent recent history, coming under common ownership in 2003 under Dunedin Property. Protego's UK Actively Managed Shopping Centre Fund acquired the centres in 2006, serviced by a loan provided by Lehman Brothers. Defaulting on £82m of that loan, the centres entered receivership with the collapse of Lehman.

UK Commercial Property Trust took control of the three centres in March 2010 and is under management by Ignis Asset Management, advised by Shearer Property Group. In October 2010, Chapman Taylor Architects were hired by Shearer Property to devise plans for refurbishment as part of a wider renewal and redevelopment of the estate.

There has long been an ambition to physically link the Darwin and Pride Hill shopping centres. The most pursued opportunity has been through the development of vacant land between the sites to precede a larger-scale regeneration of the Riverside site. The 'Gap site' was a retail and leisure link development proposed by Morris Property, owners of the land, and was granted full planning permission in 2006 prior to the centres being sold to new owners. The onset of economic crisis ensured the scheme was put on hold. Dunedin, promoters of the scheme in 2005, put four branding proposals to the public vote in a high-profile marketing push for the renaming of the present centres following the new development's completion. The reconfigured centre would have been branded 'Castle Gate'.

Previous proposals

The Castle Gate Shopping Centre was a proposal to link and rename two shopping malls in Shrewsbury in central England. Dunedin Property received permission for a £30m "Darwin Link" between their Pride Hill and Darwin centres in February 2005. Named Castle Gate that summer following a high-profile public vote on the name, the new complex was a victim of Dunedin's strategic decision to get out of retail property in 2006. A smaller proposal to link the two centres was considered by Morris Property, however was not taken forward.

Background

The Dunedin Property Retail Fund bought the 250,000 sqft Darwin Shopping Centre from Delancey as part of a £120m portfolio of properties in February 2001. In 2003 they bought the 110,000 sqft

Vote on name

The £30m scheme had the working title of "Darwin Link", but Dunedin canvassed locals for a new name for the combined malls. Over 100 names were suggested, but market research agency The Big Picture whittled this down to a shortlist of four.

Voting began on 25 July 2005 in voting booths at the centres and online voting commenced shortly afterwards. Over 11,000 votes were cast, with a final push at the town's annual Flower Show. It was announced on 13 August 2005, that 'Castle Gate' had won with 33% of the vote. 'Tudor Place' came second with 31%, followed by 'River Hill' (21%) and 'Quayside' (15%). The name could be confused with the existing street in the town called Castle Gates.

After Dunedin

Work was due to start in February 2006, to Protego Real Estate Investors and Boultbee Land. The deal was completed just before the abolition that month of Stamp Duty exemption for Jersey property unit trusts (JPUTs). Dunedin called in the receivers in September 2008. These formed the core of Protego's £350m UK Actively Managed Shopping Centre Fund, a JPUT launched in September 2006 managed by Boultbee's subsidiary EFM Asset Management. In November 2006 Morris received full planning permission for a smaller link development on the Raven Meadows site. The £10m scheme is scheduled to open in 2010.

Protego bought the centres by borrowing money from Lehman Brothers and in September 2009 it was announced that the Lehman administrators PWC would be offering the properties for sale for between £40m and £50m. The special servicer of the debt, Hatfield Philips, appointed Savills to market the centres.

References

1. (19 April 2012). "£150m Shrewsbury mega mall approved". Construction Enquirer.
2. p54, Design & Access Statement, New Riverside Shrewsbury planning application, Shropshire Council ref. 12/00409/EIA
3. p64, Design & Access Statement, New Riverside Shrewsbury planning application, Shropshire Council ref. 12/00409/EIA
4. p66-72, Design & Access Statement, New Riverside Shrewsbury planning application, Shropshire Council ref. 12/00409/EIA
5. p74, Design & Access Statement, New Riverside Shrewsbury planning application, Shropshire Council ref. 12/00409/EIA
6. "ISIS sells £25m Shrewsbury shopping centre | Online | Property Week".
7. (2010-05-04). "Business news, local news, expert opinion". Birmingham Post.
8. Chesters, Laura. (2010-03-31). "Sale of Shrewsbury shopping centre trio completes". Property Week.
9. (2010-10-29). "Shearer shapes Shrewsbury". Property Week.
10. Thomas, Helen. (2004-06-04). "Shrewsbury's centre stage". Property Week.
11. "Malls bid gets back on track « Shropshire Star".
12. [http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/search/522646//]{{dead link. (July 2017)
13. (19 February 2005). "Evolution of Darwin begins.(Dunedin Property)". Estates Gazette.
14. Parker, Graham. (8 August 2003). "Retail Property - Dunedin to revamp Shrewsbury". Retail Week.
15. Eade, Christine. (3 June 2005). "The eclectic developer". Property Week.
16. Cowlett, Mary. (September 2017). "Developer gets locals involved in mall plans". PR Week.
17. but as part of a change in strategic direction, in March 2006 Dunedin sold the two centres for £115mDifferent sources say Dunedin sold for £115m, £118m or £120m
18. (11 November 2006). "Dunedin sells retail to buy industrial.(Dunedin Property)". Estates Gazette.
19. Cruise, Sinead. (29 September 2006). "Protego fills debut £350m shopping centre fund basket". Property Week.
20. (1 November 2006). "Malls bid gets back on track". Shropshire Star.
21. "Raven Meadows". Ramboll UK Limited.
22. Roberts, Russell. (8 September 2009). "Traders fears over shop centres sale". Shropshire Star.
23. Chesters, Laura. (4 September 2009). "Shrewsbury shopping centre put on market by special servicer". Property Week.