A new college of further education and a new football stadium are two examples of the work underway in the town, but central to everything has been the opening of Frenchgate Interchange on June 8 this year.

The £200m scheme by Scarborough Development Group has been 12 years in the making and brings together transport and retail under one roof. Significantly it is the country's first transport Private Finance Initiative.

Featuring 139 shop units, a new state-of-the-art 30-stand bus station, 1,400 car parking spaces and superb rail links, Frenchgate Interchange has had a major impact.

David Wells, of Scarborough Development, says the plan, led by the Public Transport Executive, working with British Transport and the council, was to improve transport into the town by developing a scheme that amalgamated the two existing bus stations - which were previously a fair distance apart - and incorporated an improved railway station.

The development has seen the original centre, built in 1967 and opened as the first ever Arndale Centre, extended by 360,000 sq ft net to 800,000 sq ft. Works have included the new bus interchange on the ground floor, which links directly into the centre via lifts, stairs and escalators. The extension provides 55 new units on the first floor above the bus station - some of double height and others built with mezannines. There has also been an extension to the car park, including dedicated spaces for rail users. And a glass link building to connect the shopping centre and train station is currently being constructed so that shoppers will have no need to go outside. At the same time the original mall saw a £15m refurbishment including new floors and ceilings, a new entrance and external facades, and new elevators and escalators, to ensure a seemless journey from the new part of the centre into the original scheme. The road networks outside the centre also had to be shifted slightly to accommodate the development.

The scheme has attracted new names to Doncaster for the first time, including anchor store Debenhams, which is occupying a 100,000-sq ft unit, while other retailers - such as Next, which has taken 20,000 sq ft - have re-sited their stores within the extended scheme to take advantage of the new, larger units.

Wells adds: "A lot of the problems in Doncaster were caused by not having the rectangular shop units that retailers wanted. There was a huge demand but nowhere for them to go. We've now addressed this, and reduced leakage.

"A lot of people used to go to Meadowhall, but also to Leeds, York and Hull. People who want to go to Meadowhall will still go, but every couple of months rather than every month."

Already footfall has increased by 38 per cent with 1.4 million visitors a month since the centre opened. Centre manager Susan Sambrook says: "People are saying they no longer need to go to Meadowhall."

So far lettings have gone well, with 80 per cent of the space by income currently let - 10 to 12 units in the new scheme are still available. Rental values have also gone up roughly 30 per cent from two years ago so that Zone A rents have risen to £135 psf.

Wells says: "We have 20 per cent left to let. We've got another half dozen units either in lawyer's hands or with terms agreed and final approvals, and we're pleased with how it's going. We're on target and we're very happy with the names we've attracted. The likes of Jane Norman, Monsoon and Faith used not to be the sort of retailers you'd expect to see here."

The development, which has increased the town centre retail space by 20 per cent, has moved Doncaster up the retail rankings from 50 to 24. Wells adds: "This scheme was a catalyst for everything else in the town. We have the link with the airport, a new quality bus corridor providing a rapid bus route north and south of the town, and there's a plan for a park and ride site as well."

And word of mouth has certainly spread, with been no problems in encouraging new shoppers to Frenchgate and even ex-shoppers, who are returning to see what has changed. With the development 12 years in the making, shoppers are certainly keen to see their new centre.

Wells explains: "When we opened we deliberately played it low key. We had no real idea what the impact would be on a lot of things - for example, on the town's road infrastructure."

There was also an urgent need to ensure that, due to the phased opening of the new retailers, there would not be any sense of anticlimax. "We had Debenhams and Next open on the first day, but USC, Jane Norman and many others have come since," Wells adds, explaining that Debenhams, which opened the day before the grand unveil, attracted 10,000 people on that one day alone. Pumpkin Patch is the latest addition to the scheme.

Doncaster is slowly but surely remodelling itself, and people are rapidly catching on to the fact that it now offers high-quality shopping facilties and infrastructure. As a result, Sambrook and her team have not had a difficult job in attracting new shoppers. "We were a little bit concerned because we did a 'soft' launch, but it's been fine," she says. "All through the refurbishment we never lost a day's trade and we used the hoardings to promote what was happening."

The shopper demographic at Frenchgate is also changing, with the centre now attracting Bs and C1s where before there were more C2s, Ds and Es.

The centre is now manned 24-hours a day, and as a result the scheme's retailers have a lot of flexibility about their opening times.

Sambrook says: "The retailers can be as flexible as they like. They don't have to make arrangements to have a late night, they can just tell us and go ahead. Debenhams is regularly doing long trading hours."

So with the shoppers satisfied and the retailers trading well, there's not a lot for the management team to worry about. "It's really an extension of the way it's always been," says Sambrook, "but it's that much bigger and better than before."

vital statistics

Frenchgate interchange

Developer: Scarborough Development Group

Owner: Frenchgate Limited Partnership

Building contractors: Robert McAlpine

Letting agents: Lunson Mitchenall, Fawley Watson Booth

Number of units: 139

Total space: 800,000 sq ft net

Total new space: 360,000 sq ft

Catchment: 300,000 people in the borough; 100-150,000 people within a short distance to the town centre

Footfall: 1.4 million per month

Zone A rents: £135 psf

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