Physically, the development dominates the town centre. In floorspace terms it offers almost as much space as the existing High Street, but with units configured for modern retail formats. And visually it dominates because above the shopping mall is a massive residential development bringing high-rise apartment living to the suburbs with 279 one, two and three-bedroom homes rising up to seven storeys from podium level.

Developer O&H Properties bought the site, occupied by a windswept 1960s shopping precinct, from Frogmore in 2002. Frogmore had already developed a Sainsbury's store and a multi-storey car park on an adjoining site but O&H wanted to make some changes to both the residential and retail elements. In retail terms this primarily involved introducing some natural light into the covered mall and increasing the height of the shop units so that they could all accommodate mezzanine trading levels.

The covered mall will form a natural link from the High Street to the Sainsbury's store and the car park. And in addition there will be two terraces of exterior-facing units, one for A1 retailers and the other dedicated to catering operators.

In another late change O&H bought out the Beale's department store opposite the scheme and this will now form a second phase to the developmeny, with seven more units beneath a new public library.

Already Next has taken a pre-letting on 16,500 sq ft and New Look 12,000 sq ft. In addition a large chunk of phase 2 - 17,000 sq ft - is under offer to a department store group with a fashion, shoes, cosmetics and lingerie offer that looks remarkably like Debenhams' Desire format.

Letting agents CBRE and CWM claim to be in serious talks on at least 30 of the 42 units but if they are to meet the September deadline they need to move fast. O&H's property director Alison Allen says she's seeing "good leasing progress" and rents are pitched at £70 zone A. "You have to be sensible," she says. "We're not taking on Kingston or Guildford."

She is also looking to attract some strong local and regional retailers. For instance regional multiple Johnsons Shoes is extending into the scheme.

The demographics of Walton are certainly impressive, and it's classified as the second-wealthiest place in the UK. Of the centre's 154,000 catchment population 70 per cent are in the AB and C1 groupings, which is 35 per cent more than the national average. And 46 per cent are classified as 'high income' which is twice the national average. The developers claim a £3,648 spend per capita on non-food items, which is 50 per cent higher than the national average.

So Walton looks like being one of those schemes where footfall isn't massive but where the average basket size is substantial. If it succeeds it could form a template for other similar locations because it ticks a lot of boxes under the government's urban agenda. First, it is mixed-use with retail, residential, leisure and civic uses. And second, it will cut road use because local shoppers have traditionally deserted Walton in droves to visit either Guildford or Kingston. At the moment the town only achieves a seven per cent market penetration among its own catchment.

Walton, with its tree-lined avenues and golf courses, might not seem a prime candidate for regeneration. But it looks to be leading the way.

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