First in line is probably the most highly anticipated opening for many a year - Liverpool One, which opens in two phases in May and September.

The scheme is being delivered as part of the UK's largest city centre regeneration project, Grosvenor's Paradise Project, and is one of the biggest retail developments currently underway in Europe.

The £950m project covers over 42 acres and encompasses 2.4 million sq ft of space, with around two thirds designated for retail over 30 individually designed buildings and six districts. It will also have 230,000 sq ft of leisure facilities, including a health and fitness centre, a revitalised park and a 14-screen cinema.

With over 160 new shops, including signed retailers such as John Lewis, HMV, Zara, Pull & Bear, Gap, Monsoon, All Saints, Principles, Liverpool Football Club, Disney, Build a Bear and WH Smith, Liverpool One's retail offer will be extensive, and the development has been carefully designed to integrate with other parts of the city's amenities, such as its museums, galleries and entertainment centres.

Neil Barber, head of retail leasing at Grosvenor, says the main focus is currently on the first phase of openings at the end of May, when shops in South John Street and half of Paradise Street will open. "We expect 70 of the 80 units to be signed up by opening and the vast majority open," he says. "The lettings have gone very well and will be followed at the end of September with the second phase in Peter Lane as well as the leisure and catering offer." Barber expects the first phase of lettings to be complete by the time of the grand launch in September.

Modus's Houndshill shopping centre in Blackpool will boast an impressive tenant line up and an array of unique features when it opens its doors on August 21.

Top high street retailers Debenhams, New Look, River Island, Jane Norman, Next and H&M have already committed to taking space within the extension, adding to the existing retailer line up of Primark, Claire's Accessories, Superdrug, Starbucks, Dorothy Perkins and Faith Shoes.

Upon completion, Houndshill will have tripled in size to 400,000 sq ft and will include a mix of cutting edge features which are characteristic of all Modus developments, including a warm and intimate food deck and the moving fish floor and water feature, which will attract visitors to Houndshill, creating a sense of movement and an aquatic experience that traditionally would not be associated with a shopping centre.

Agents for the scheme are Savills, Lunson Mitchenall and Keenan & Co.

Kingsgate shopping centre in Dunfermline is undergoing a major £50m extension and refurbishment by Irish owner-developers Mivan. The construction works on the extension are well advanced and the two-level extension is also on schedule for opening in August - making it the first big opening in Scotland this year.

Already Dunfermline's main shopping destination, and only 14 miles north of Edinburgh, the extended Kingsgate will almost double the existing retail offer to 370,000 sq ft.

The existing scheme, at the heart of the town's main pedestrianised shopping street, is already anchored by M&S, and counts Monsoon, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, Superdrug, Game and JD Sports among its 47 other tenants. The new extension will bring 27 new shops to Dunfermline. Debenhams has signed up to anchor the extension in a 70,000-sq ft unit and New Look is also on board and will occupy 17,000 sq ft over two levels, substantially increasing the size of its current offering in the town. It will be joined by C&J Clark and JJB Sports.

The development project will extend the shopping centre by some 162,000 sq ft immediately to the east of the existing centre on the site previously occupied by the bus station and a multi-storey car park.

Work on site is now focusing on getting the internal space ready for retailers to fit out, commencing with the 70,000-sq ft Debenhams store which was handed over to the retailer on February 15. The extension is also supported by a new three-level car park with 711 parking spaces which will be operated by APCOA.

The Kingsgate extension is expected to increase Dunfermline's market share substantially from 57.3 per cent to 73.9 per cent, and is set to improve Dunfermline's Scottish ranking within the retail footprint, based on comparison goods expenditure, from 17th to 11th.

Highcross Leicester, being developed by Hammerson and Hermes, is set to open in the autumn, absorbing the existing Shires shopping centre to become a single vibrant destination of over 1 million sq ft, incorporating more than 100 aspirational fashion retailers, three department stores - John Lewis, Debenhams, and House of Fraser - 120 contemporary apartments, 3,000 parking spaces, and Leicester's very first city centre multiplex cinema. The latest retailers to sign to the £350m city centre scheme include Top Shop, Top Man, Wallis and Goldsmiths. Additional retailers include Hobbs, All Saints, Zara, Reiss, Next, H&M, New Look, River Island and Republic.

Anchored by a four-storey John Lewis department store, Highcross Leicester will be introducing some of the most exciting concepts in fashion retailing, alfresco dining and contemporary city-centre living to Leicester.

Westfield London also opens later this year, accommodating some of the world's finest brands. Five anchor stores, including M&S, House of Fraser, Next, Debenhams and Waitrose, more than 265 speciality shops, over 40 places to dine, a state of the art 14-screen cinema, a health and beauty retreat and a gymnasium will combine to create the ultimate lifestyle destination.

The Pavilion, a vast interior space capable of hosting a multitude of events, and The Village, a luxury retail environment, will create a destination fully equipped to serve the demanding London shopper.

The local transport infrastructure will benefit from a £170 million investment by Westfield in the construction of new and improved transport links.

Strong consumer activity in Ashford

ING Real Estate opened its £120m extension at County Square Shopping Centre in Ashford, Kent on Thursday 20 March.

The 220,000-sq ft development has doubled the size of the centre's existing space to create a 435,000-sq ft shopping destination. It brings the total number of units at the centre to over 50 and also includes a 620-space multi-storey car park.

The extension is anchored by a 90,000-sq ft Debenhams, the first time a national department store brand has been represented in the town, and the company has used it to test a new store design that will now be rolled out across the country. On the upper ground level the Debenhams store is joined by five key fashion anchors: H&M, New Look, River Island, Next and Jane Norman. "We achieved our aim of attracting six big retailers," says centre manager Kevin Gwilliam.

The lower level will open out onto a new public square, breaking the collar of Ashford's ring road that had been in danger of strangling the town centre. According to Gwilliam, the letting focus in this area will be on homewares. Both Debenhams and Next have been reporting strong homewares sales, and Gwilliam believes this reflects the surge in new house building in Ashford, which will see 20,000 new homes built over 20 years. He points out that from next year the new high speed rail line to St Pancras International will bring Ashford within 37 minutes of central London, increasing its attractiveness as a commuter town.

Sympathetic contemporary architecture for Cambridge

Grosvenor and USS's Grand Arcade is the first major city centre development Cambridge has seen in over 30 years.

The 255,000-sq ft John Lewis store opened before Christmas, and has been enjoying strong trade ever since, but the opening of the new mall linking St Andrews Street with the existing Lion Yard shopping centre completes Grosvenor's vision for the scheme.

According to retail projects director Lawrence Chadwick, the scheme was 90 per cent let or in solicitors' hands on opening day. And Nick Symons, director at Savills, joint agent with Jones Lang LaSalle, advises that negotiations are underway on the remaining units. "We've achieved what we set out to do, which was to get a good tenant mix that plugged the gap in the city," he says.

The Apple store - the 15th in the UK - drew big crowds on opening day and many of the other occupiers are new to the city, including All Saints, Carluccio's, Coast, Costa Coffee, Gerry Weber, G-Star, Hugo Boss, Jane Norman, Links, Phase Eight, River Island, Ted Baker, Wallis, Swarovski, Warehouse, TM Lewin, Topshop and Topman.

Chadwick describes Chapman Taylor's design as being highly contemporary but nevertheless in keeping with the ethos of Cambridge, with stone pillars and cherrywood panelling. Vertical circulation is crucial to the lofty scheme, with John Lewis, Topshop and River Island all trading on three levels, and the 950-space car park has been designed to feed shoppers into the centre equally across all levels.

Eden comes to High Wycombe

Eden, the 850,000-sq ft shopping centre in High Wycombe opened on Thursday 13 March and welcomed its millionth visitor before the end of the month.

Anchored by a 142,000-sq ft four-level House of Fraser store and a 103,000-sq ft Marks & Spencer, Eden is also home to fashion luminaries including LK Bennett, Zara, Office Shoes, Jones, H&M, Gap, Billabong and Joy.

The leisure element includes Cineworld and AMF Bowl, with a variety of restaurateurs including Wagamama, Nando's, La Tasca, Zizzi, Yo! Sushi and Frankie & Benny's.

Alan Peach, director and head of retail at developer Brookfield Developments (formerly Multiplex Developments), says: "We knew that the demand for a quality shopping experience was there from both High Wycombe and the affluent catchment area surrounding it, and we were also convinced that Eden presented an exceptional opportunity for our retailers. The feedback we're getting from our retailers is incredibly positive."

The new centre has been cleverly grafted onto the existing Octagon Centre, which has been thoroughly refurbished and completely rebranded.

A number of retailers have migrated from the old part to the new, but according to Brookfield's director of retail development Tim Buckley, a number of offers are currently on the table which will help plug the resulting gaps. Overall the scheme is well over 90 per cent let, according to Buckley.

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