The most spectacular feature of the centre is the cavernous atrium at the heart of the scheme. All three car parking levels and the three retail levels open out into the atrium, which means navigation around the scheme is clear and simple with 12 escalators and four lifts.

"It's all about vertical circulation," says centre manager Andy Talbot, whose office looks directly down into the atrium so he can see what's going on. "And it means we've got plenty of natural light."

Another key part of the West Orchards mix is the food court on level two of the atrium. "The food court ensures the centre stays busy," says Talbot. "It's a big footfall driver and it gives people a reason to walk past all the other retailers."

Last year, the food court saw a £1.5m refurbishment, increasing capacity from 480 to 700 covers. "That was a direct response to it being oversubscribed every lunchtime and at weekends," Talbot explains. As part of the works, the old management suite and public toilets were demolished to make way for the extension. New toilets were created beside the food court and the management office moved to its new eyrie-like location perched at the top of the atrium.

The money was well spent, according to Talbot. "The food court has seen a 30 per cent increase in turnover, against a forecast uplift of 24 per cent," he says. And it's paying dividends for the centre as a whole, with footfall up 6 per cent year-on-year in November and December 2006, well ahead of both the regional and national averages.

"We're getting great customer feedback," says Talbot, "and retailers close to the food court are seeing trade up by 20 per cent."

The figures bear out Talbot's conviction that the food court is key to the West Orchards offer. "When I joined four years ago it was going the wrong way," he says. "We brought in KFC and Natural Choice before the refurb, which put £1m on the turnover, and BB's Coffee & Muffins has come in since the refurb. It's all about the mix and the environment."

Talbot is especially proud of the way marketing was used to mitigate the disruption while the refurb was taking place, and he's planning to enter the campaign for this year's Purple Apples. "We encouraged people to use the food court as a takeaway while the works were in progress," he explains. "We'd budgeted for a 25 per cent fall in sales but, in fact, they were up 8 per cent."

And to spread the word when the refurbed food court reopened, celebrity chef James Martin was invited for the relaunch, and a teddy bears' picnic brought in the families.

With the food court sorted Talbot is looking at the rest of the centre. "We're looking at other ways of improving the service to our customers," he says. "I review the management team every year to ensure we're offering the right things to our retailers and the public and as a result, in November we created two new customer service manager posts.

"Their role is new so I've asked them to look at our customer service and identify how it can be improved." The two are about to make their recommendations to operations manager Jim Melia, but they've already started to make changes. For instance, they've started working with a local college to offer customer service training on-site.

As a former retailer - before joining West Orchards he ran the electrical retailer Dixons' airport operations across most of the UK - Talbot is well aware of the importance of the personal touch. "If customers see a smiling face, it rubs off on them," he says. "Now we're investing in that."

And he tries to bring that approach to his own management style. "I remember the shopping centre managers I encountered when I was a store manager," he says. "They found every excuse they could to say 'No.' I thought I could bring a can-do attitude to the job."

For the past three years, West Orchards has been run under a facilities management contract with MacLellan. Andy Talbot and one other member of staff are employed directly by landlord Prupim. The other 48 members of the team are employed by MacLellan, handling the cleaning, security and staffing of the food court.

Talbot says this approach allows him to concentrate on strategic matters, particularly focusing on driving new income streams. "A lot of centre managers can be afraid of letting go," he says. "But if you trust your team - and you delegate rather than abdicate responsibility - you can still keep an eye on the place but at a higher level.

"FM has transformed the operation," he adds. "Everything's transparent - they operate on a fixed percentage and it's a completely open book."

Big changes are afoot at West Orchards because Prupim has put the investment up for sale through CB Richard Ellis, 13 years after it bought the centre from the original developer Burton Property Trust. The sale is likely to go through this spring.

"It's a rock solid investment," says Talbot. "We've got some strong covenants on long leases. If anything, the difficulty has been creating evidence at rent review because there hasn't been the turnover of retailers." At the moment, there are just three voids out of 40 units, and two of those are filled with temporary lets.

Talbot says rents vary from mall to mall, but range from £75 to £110 zone A, which compares with £180 zone A outside the centre in The Precinct. Any new owner would naturally look to narrow this gap. "When we've talked to potential buyers they've been very excited about the opportunities in Coventry as a whole," he says.

Talbot talks with great enthusiasm about the changes taking place in Coventry and clearly sees his role as an ambassador for the city as much as for the centre itself. On the retail side, Primark has moved into the old Allders store next to West Orchards; New Look has taken a large new store; and in November 2007, Ikea will open its first city centre store nearby.

"That will have a huge impact," Talbot forecasts. "Coventry will be the first Ikea where people can pop into the town centre and do the rest of their shopping in the same trip."

This will be particularly useful in extending Coventry's catchment into the prosperous regions to the south, while at the same time making up some of the ground lost to the north following the opening of the Ropewalk in Nuneaton.

At the same time, the council is promoting a new leisure quarter around the refurbished Belgrade Theatre, with a new Radisson hotel and a range of restaurants and bars. And up to 3 million sq ft of mixed-use space is planned in a comprehensive redevelopment of the area around Coventry railway station.

"The investment sale is a huge opportunity to work with a new landlord, and with the wider city centre," concludes Talbot.

Vital statistics

West Orchards

Owner: Prupim

FM Contractor: MacLellan

GLA: 206,000 sq ft

Parking spaces: 650

Anchor tenants: Marks & Spencer; Debenhams; WH Smith

Txt Zone

Last year, West Orchards won the Best Technological Innovation SCEPTRE Award for its ground-breaking Txt Zone scheme. In 2004, the centre recognised a problem with the public's perception of safety. Anti-social behaviour at the centre included littering, loitering, spitting, throwing objects from balconies and intimidation.

In a positive effort to tackle these issues, it challenged young people to create ideas which could be implemented in a cost-effective way. More than 40 local youngsters were invited to make suggestions.

Not only did the idea by three girls from Ernesford Grange School win them £500, but their Txt Zones concept was seen as imaginative, extremely feasible and easy to put into practice. Police, community safety team members and centre management were full of praise.

In summer 2005, the idea became a reality when it went 'live'. As a result, West Orchards is colour and number-coded throughout. If at any time anyone feels unsafe or sees anything inappropriate, they can text the Txt Zone number with the colour and number zone they are in.This information goes direct to the centre's security, who will respond immediately to any problem.

This facility is free of charge and designed by the youngsters. A trial period of three months had the clear objective to involve the young people at every stage. With its success, the project was fully implemented in March 2006.

A recent survey shows people think Txt Zone is a good idea; 74 per cent of customers felt safer. The management and security believe the publicity has contributed to a reduction in recorded incidents.

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