The Queensgate Centre: a regeneration jewel for an East Anglian crown
Published: 07 March, 2006
Peterborough is that curious creature, a town that has two distinct faces, depending on the direction from which you approach it. If you're heading out of London this is the last outpost of the south-east. It may be an hour or so by train from the capital, but go north of here and you're in Lincolnshire with the south well and truly left behind. The same is true if you're coming from the north - this is the point at which you may feel that you have entered the land of louche-living southerners.
The catchment for Peterborough's Queensgate shopping centre reveals something of a similar schism. Centre manager Roger Hutchings says that it serves the shopping needs of customers coming from East Anglia, Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire and, to an extent, north Hertfordshire. Prior to his arrival at the centre, around 18 months ago, Hutchings ran the Peacocks centre in Woking and he is quick to point out that Peterborough serves a much more widely-spread community than the closely clustered schemes found in Surrey.
This makes the centre something of an oddity in UK terms. "We are a regional shopping centre in a city centre," as Hutchings puts it. He compares it with other large shopping developments that are in the centre of urban areas naming Newcastle's Eldon Square and Manchester's Arndale centre as examples. The difference however is that while these two are undoubtedly very large, they are part of a much larger urban whole.
By contrast, in relation to the size of Peterborough, around 160,000 people (and growing fast), the current 807,000 sq ft Queensgate centre dominates its immediate hinterland in a way that is hard to match almost anywhere else in the UK.
Built in 1982, this was the outcome of a joint venture between the Peterborough New Town Corporation and Norwich Union's Morley Fund Management. To a large extent this is a little piece of the early 1980s preserved in aspic. Physically it looks pretty much the same as the day it opened. It is a tribute to the build quality of the scheme that the marble floor is intact. There is a large central square which looks, by today's standards, almost profligate in its use of space - land in this area was presumably cheap in 1982.
Hutchings seems pleased with the way in which the centre has stood the test of time: "there are many other centres that were built after Queensgate that have been refurbished. This has not, because it has not proved necessary." Certainly, the centre has managed to hold onto its key anchor tenant, John Lewis, since opening and coupled with the branches of Waitrose and Bhs, all of which have proved long-term mainstays of the development, this remains a jewel in the Norwich Union and, since November, Hammerson crown.
But even gems have a habit of fading if they are not treated to a little polish from time to time. With this in mind, there are plans in place to refurbish Queensgate and to create a sister development, dubbed North Westgate, next door.
Julian Wells, Hammerson's director of group acquisition, says: "We've got to be a bit careful that what we do with North Westgate works with Queensgate and doesn't dilute the offer. North Westgate has to feel slightly different from the Queensgate centre, but needs to work with it." He continues: "The new scheme will link into the existing centre by way of the link mall, which is already there, but is being refurbished. For that part of the scheme, we'll take the roof off and put a glazed roof on." The redevelopment figure is £400m.
The Queensgate refurbishment will see much of the main access to the centre, from the multi-storey car park, demolished. This is the approach that also greets shoppers and visitors to the town alighting at the station. Currently a road leads from the train station to the centre via a covered bridge. If everything goes to plan, and a detailed planning application remains to be submitted, work could start in 2007.
