Customer Facilities

SUCCESS IN THE MILLENNIUM
Metrocentre offers great opportunities for retailers and shoppers. Capital Shopping Centres continue to develop the Centre to reflect the ever-changing needs of the shopper. Imaginative redevelopment programmes keep Metrocentre at the forefront of retail competing favourably with new centres throughout Europe. A successful Centre is a partnership between owner, retailers and its customers. The proven success of Metrocentre is its growth, each year recording high levels of customer visits. This is a testament to the success of the partnership at Metrocentre and the excellent relationship with the retailers. The safe, clean, friendly, attractive shopping environment for which Metrocentre is renowned, would not be possible without the support of partners such as Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council, Northumbria Police and Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade. Capital Shopping Centres are delighted to have the opportunity to maintain the management philosophy of Metrocentre and manage its continuing success.

A BOLD NEW CONCEPT
In 1980 few people realised that, when a power station’s waterlogged ash dump on the outskirts of Gateshead was chosen for development, the North East of England would be pioneering a retail revolution. The concept, planning and design of Metrocentre were essentially very simple. The needs of the customer were covered in every detail. With this in mind, the aim of Cameron Hall, the original developers, was to provide a shopping and leisure centre that combined the best of North American innovation with all the lessons learnt from centuries of European shopping tradition.

• Where efficiency and convenience meet an attractively varied environment.

• Where the benefits of size can be enjoyed on a human scale.

• Where the purchase of goods go hand-in-hand with the pursuit of pleasure.

As a result, Metrocentre has become more than bricks and mortar. It is now part of the social fabric of the region. Reinstating the traditional values of the marketplace - where people used to go to meet as well as shop - in order to fulfil the needs of an age with increasing time for leisure. Metrocentre has rekindled the tradition of the ‘family going to town’.

“A GREAT BIG CLARTY FIELD”
In 1979 the site was a 120 acre waterlogged ash dump described by local Geordies as ‘a great big clarty field’! For over 40 years it had been the ash dump for a power station. There was no access and the site valuation totalled just £100,000. It had only one advantage - its location! Situated at the heart of Tyneside, the potential catchment was 1.5 million people within a 30 minute drive time, and 3 million within one hour. In 1981 the area was designated by Government as one of the first Enterprise Zones in the UK. This gave rise to the opportunity to claim 100% capital allowance on building work, few planning restrictions and a rate free status until 1991. More importantly, it helped Metrocentre become economically viable.

A DREAM BECOMES REALITY
Sir John Hall, a miner’s son from Ashington, who owned a property development company, Cameron Hall, and had retail project experience and a passion for the North East, was determined that this should be the location for his dream. A state-of-the-art retail and leisure development built by, and for, the people of the region. In order to realise his ambitions for the present scale of development, he needed to convince both retail and financial organisations of the potential of the scheme. In early 1984 Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council helped host an exhibition at a local hotel to draw attention to the proposed scheme. To the surprise of all involved, over 1000 visitors, including the top retailers in the UK, Marks & Spencer, Burton Group, Boots, Sears, Bhs, House of Fraser, and Littlewoods came to the North East to view the exhibition and express their interest in the development. Suddenly the proposed Metrocentre became ‘flavour of the month’ in retailing. Inspired by this burst of enthusiasm Gateshead MBC, with the Department of the Environment, agreed to pay £1.75m towards the cost of the vital access roads linking the Centre to the A1 Western Bypass. Following the decision of Marks & Spencer to take a large store on the site, which was their first venture out of town, the concept rapidly expanded from the original idea of simply a cluster of retail sheds and leisure based attractions into a very major shopping centre.

FUNDING
Funding such a grandiose scheme was not without its initial problems. Eventually the Church Commissioners for England agreed to entirely fund the project and in just two years from announcing the initial concept, a small number of retailers started trading from April 1986 and the first malls officially opened on October 14th 1986. In October 1987 the third phase was completed coinciding with the Church Commissioners’ decision to buy out the developer’s interest completely. The next chapter was written in October 1995 when Capital Shopping Centres PLC purchased a 90% interest in the Centre for £364m. The remaining 10% ownership was retained by the Church Commissioners for England.

SIGNIFICANT DATES
1981 Area became an Enterprise Zone.
1984 Sir John Hall and Gateshead MBC launched their proposed development. Gateshead MBC and the Department of the Environment built the vital access roads linking to the A69 Western Bypass (now the A1). Building began.
1986 Phase 1 250 000 sq. ft. (Red Mall) opened (23 252 sq. metres) Phase 2 110 000 sq. ft. (Green Mall) opened (10 219 sq. metres)
1987 Phase 3 development 900 000 sq. ft. (Blue and Yellow Malls) opened (83 612 sq. metres) Bus Station opened. Blue multi storey car park and railway station opened. UCI Cinema opened.
1988 MetroLand (later The New MetroLand) opened. Yellow Mall opened. Roman Forum (now The Forum) themed area opened.
1989 Mediterranean Village (now The Studio) themed area opened. GX Superbowl (later Megabowl) opened. 350 bay Coach Park opened. Fully operational 2 250 000 sq. ft. (209 030 sq. metres) opened.
1990 Phase 4 opened A1 Western Bypass opened
1991 Western Bypass 3rd lane opened inbound from the A1 South
1992 North perimeter link to A1 North & West opened
1994 July – New road, Handy Drive opened
1995 Capital Shopping Centres purchased 90% of Metrocentre from the Church Commissioners.
2000 The Centre became equipped with the most up to date life saving equipment, in the form of defibrillators situated around the Centre. Secretary of State grants consent to extend the Centre to include Debenhams, up to 27 additional shop units and a multi-storey car park.
2002 Demolition of the old Asda site begins and the building of the new Red Mall and Debenhams Department Store and the new Public Transport Interchange begins.
2003 Topping Out of the new Red Mall takes place. Debenhams starts shop fitting
2004 Opening of the new Public Transport Interchange Wednesday 6th October – Re-launch of Metrocentre and Opening of the new Red Mall. Metrocentre becomes the largest shopping and leisure centre in Europe once again.
2005 Barry Turnbull appointed as General Manager of MetroCentre.
2006 Plans is to redevelop the Yellow Mall unveiled. This will involve relocating the Cinema to the area where MetroLand is currently located, building a new Bowling Alley and introducing new family style restaurants to replace the Food Court. This will involve the closure of MetroLand. Both the Food Court and Bowling Alley will closure temporarily during building works.
2007 Capital Shopping Centres purchases Metro Retail Park in Gateshead for £82.5 million.
2007/2008 Work begins on the redevelopment of The New Yellow Mall.

BUILDING ON A HUMAN SCALE
In spite of its size, Metrocentre was designed with people firmly in mind. Inside the building, great care and attention has gone into the design and selection of materials to create a relaxing, safe and comfortable atmosphere. Glazed malls allow natural light to flood the spacious walkways. Two storey columns linked by cornices strike an elegant note, whilst providing an infrastructure for air conditioning and lighting. Extensive planting and water features combine to produce a unique interior landscape. Balustrades and sympathetic lighting, even litter bins, add decorative detail and interest. The overall effect is to re-create the feeling of a traditional High Street, which is protected from traffic, the elements and crime and with much, much more space. Architecture, however, is only part of what helps to make Metrocentre more human. Concern for the customers’ well-being extends to the last detail. Baby changing facilities are to be found in male as well as female toilets. Discreet, caring security and customer services teams operate throughout the Centre. These are just a few examples of MetroCentre’s cohesive management policy. Without it, facilities and services in areas as diverse as cleanliness and safety would not remain of the highest possible standard. Retailers have always responded imaginatively to this innovative shopping environment in their shop fitting. A storefront criteria was prepared which actively encourages tenants to express their own identities, whilst demanding the same high quality of design and even new formats.