One of the first regeneration schemes to open this year will be Eden in High Wycombe. On March 13 Multiplex and Aldersgate Investments will open the 825,000-sq ft retail led mixed-use scheme, which is leading the £500m regeneration of High Wycombe. The scheme includes 108 shops and restaurants, including a 143,000-sq ft House of Fraser department store, 48 apartments, a state-of-the-art library, a 12-screen 'Cineworld' cinema and a 22-lane AMF bowl.

On opening, Eden will reposition High Wycombe as a 'Quality Centre' and propel the town into the top 50 within the CACI Retail Footprint Index, jumping 51 places to a predicted 45th position.

Multiplex retail director Tim Buckley says: "The local population has never had any quality retail facilities. We are responding to customer need. In a somewhat less than tangible sense, it's giving the local community something to be proud of."

Buckley believes the success of High Wycombe will come down to the fact there are a number of communities of reasonable size around the town, such as Amersham, Beaconsfield and Marlow, which have been searching for somewhere to go and shop. He also hopes that people living within 10 to 20 miles of High Wycombe will have the new development on their retail radar. "It has been a delight because we are dealing with a good centre in a very strong town with huge levels of support. The relationship we have with Wycombe District Council, who are instrumental in the whole regeneration of the town as a whole, has been superb, and they have been a genuine pleasure to deal with," Buckley adds.

Meanwhile in Farnborough, Hampshire, Key Property Investments will be starting construction this spring on the £80m redevelopment of the town centre.

The development includes a new 50,000-sq ft Sainsbury's superstore, a Sportsworld store, a Gala Bingo, a 77-bed Travelodge and 129 homes, while anchoring the other end of the town centre will be an eight-screen Vue cinema with 29,000 sq ft of bar/restaurant units. In addition, KPI - a joint venture between St Modwen Properties and Salhia Real Estate Company - will redevelop and refurbish the current Kingsmead shopping centre and bring the multi-storey car park up to Park Mark status. At a later stage, KPI will also look at establishing a refurbishment programme for the existing Queensmead - effectively the current high street.

Last month the scheme was relaunched as 'The Meads' - taking into account the Kingsmead shopping centre, Queensmead, and Princes Mead shopping centre, which is not owned by KPI.

"We want the town centre to feel like a town centre that joins together," says Simon Rutter, St Modwen Properties' senior development director. "We'll be rolling out new street furniture and new signage so that anyone coming into the town will find their way through it and it all has the same feel to it.

"The key for us, in the first four or five months of the year, before we start on the building, is to secure some anchor retailers."

Rutter hopes the new development and a new retailer line-up will help to ensure consumers in Farnborough, Fleet, Aldershot, Yateley and Camberley - all of which are within a 10-minute drive time - have somewhere to shop and spend their evenings, thereby reducing leakage to other nearby towns.

"We have a very loyal customer base at the moment and one of the benefits of the town is the 194,000 catchment within a 10-minute drive. How much of that catchment we're getting at the moment is difficult to judge but we're aiming to make Farnborough the destination of choice. We won't compete with Guildford and Basingstoke for that special once-a-month shop as they are both regional shopping centres, but we're looking to ensure that if you need a range of comparison products we have the right choice in Farnborough."

The scheme is expected to be complete by the end of 2009.

As Shopping Centre went to press the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership - which is proposing a £750m retail-led development in Bracknell - was awaiting the result of its Compulsory Purchase Order, which was set to be determined at an inquiry on February 14.

A positive outcome would put the team in a position to start on site in the first quarter of 2009.

Detailed plans of the retail development in the north of the town centre are expected to be revealed later this year, but in the meantime the regeneration is already receiving exceptional interest from high quality national retailers and hotel operators. The retail mix plan seeks to attract independent and niche retailers as well as national multiples in order to maintain the vibrancy and viability of the town centre.

Plans include 600,000 sq ft of new retail space, 170,000 sq ft of new bars, restaurants, leisure and entertainment facilities, 1,000 new homes, 3,500 new car parking spaces and 700,000 sq ft of new and replacement business space.

Helen Barnett of the BRP says: "We have to change people's perception of Bracknell, but it's also about managing expectations. Our catchment is overflowing so we have to provide a different offer."

The phased completion is scheduled from 2013.

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