But first, a history lesson. Dundee, depending on which version of the city's story you come across, was known for any of the following things, jute, jam or journalism. With the exception of publishing, the tide of events has swept most of this away and for a while this was something of a ghost town with strong academic credentials and not much else.

For much of this time the city's shopping provision consisted of a covered Maginot Line-like shopping centre called Wellgate and a largely open-air mall dubbed Overgate. Between the two stretched the main high street with a collection of somewhat tired-looking mid-market retailers holding on, presumably, in the hope of seeing a lift in the city's fortunes.

It would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that the opening of Overgate marked something of a turning point. Drive towards the largely pedestrianised city centre and the first thing you are likely to come across is Overgate, a 420,000-sq ft shining exemplar of curved glass walls blended with tasteful stone. It is in keeping with much of the fine architecture that sets Dundee apart, if anybody had taken the time to have a look previously. Fronting the mall are the reddish stone "City Churches" reflected in the sweeping glass frontage.

Very impressive, but what effect has it had upon the city as a whole and has it proved a good investment for Lend Lease? Simon Donaldson, general manager of Overgate for the past three years, says: "Until last year it's been double-digit growth every year." He is realistic about the way in which things kicked off in the centre: "In the early days, the first year, from March 2000 when the centre first opened, it was by no means fully let. It was a very tough start, but in 2001 things really took off in terms of lettings and sales." He continues: "The operation bedded down and became a lot more efficient, but also a number of retailers got over that initial concern about the location."

The latter fact might seem curious, given the easy access to and from the city, but Dundee's renaissance was just getting under way and Overgate was one of the first tangible signs that things were changing. Donaldson makes the point that the most difficult task facing Lend Lease was actually getting retailers to take time and come and have a look at the city. "If they come here, they realise that there is a great opportunity to trade," he says.

Literature issued by development agency "Locate Dundee" claims that there is a catchment population of 640,000 within a 60-minute drive of the city. Kylie Wilson, marketing manager of Overgate, says that the true figure for potential Dundee shoppers is closer to 500,000, representing a drive time of 45 minutes. Beyond this she says that shoppers are just as likely to end up driving to Glasgow or Edinburgh. The "core catchment " is 227,000, according to Wilson, which still makes Dundee look a good prospect for most retailers.

Debenhams certainly took this view from the moment the centre opened and with 115,000 sq ft it remains the anchor tenant at Overgate. The department store already had a presence in the city's Nethergate prior to the redevelopment of Overgate, but it opted to move into the new scheme. Many of UK retail's great and good have followed with familiar names such as Gap, French Connection and H&M sitting alongside more specialised offerings including upsccale operator Lush.

The centre looks busy and is almost completely let - a contrast with the Wellgate mall which now very much looks its age and has a significant number of voids as it undergoes a measure of redevelopment. It too is not immune to the momentum that has been provided by Overgate.

Between the two malls, the high street has also greatly changed. This used to be a drab, lacklustre affair, the buildings coated in grime and shoppers trying to get the whole business of visiting central Dundee over as quickly as possible. Today, largely due to the Lend Lease kick-start, new retailers such as Zara, Republic and Ottakers now occupy the site of former department store Arnotts and the whole thoroughfare between the two malls has been spruced up.

Which bring us to the future. Overgate celebrated its fifth birthday a little over a year ago and Lend Lease has been examining its options in the city for some time. A proposal to extend the centre by 215,000 sq ft has been on the table for a while and last month it finally cleared the last of the planning hurdles with the passing of all elements of the four planning applications submitted to the Scottish Executive. In practice this means Donaldson and his team now have to "see if the numbers stack up" before pressing the button and going ahead.

Although getting this permission has been, in the scheme of things, relatively rapid, Donaldson says: "We have worked long and hard on this. We've consulted with local communities and talked to all the right stakeholders. We put a lot of the leg-work in prior to the applications. I think also that we have a very supportive council here which has great aspirations for the city centre."

If matters go according to plan Dundee may see an extended Overgate taking shape from the end of 2007 and being completed sometime in late 2009 or early 2010.

It takes vision to look at a run-down urban area and see its potential and one of the easiest things for a developer to do is to move into an area that is booming. When Lend Lease took the plunge at Overgate a number of observers wondered whether it would work out. Six years on the gamble, a highly calculated one, appears to have paid off and this is a scheme that really does sit at the heart of the community.

Fact file

Overgate overview

Owner: Lend Lease Overgate Partnership (Lend Lease, Barclays, BG Group Pension Scheme, Equitable Life, Morley Properties and NFU Mutual Insurance)

Manager: Lease Real Estate Investment Services

Floorspace: 420,000 sq ft

Anchor: Debenhams (115,000 sq ft)

MSUs: Gap, French Connection, H&M, Next, Sports World

Catchment: 640,000 (1 hr); 500,000 (45 mins)

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