Centre has promising design

Press, 17 March 1987, Page 28

Centre has promising design

The new Countdown Centre, situated between Garence and Rotherham Streets, Riccarton, opens today.

Designed by Warren and Mahoney, the new centre has a design quite remarkable to any other shopping mall. It is arranged in such a way as to allow a steady pedestrian traffic from all sides of the centre. Access to the centre from Rotherham or Clarence Street is such that parking spaces are well catered for, and each shop enjoys the advantage of having an extensive shop front. Although all walkways converge at the Countdown food market, these also provide covered access to a wide variety of shops.

Altogether, there are 21 specialty shops and the food market. Parking areas are now complete, with trees and shrubs being planted to complete a very detailed landscaped plan. An internal triangular courtyard or plaza serves as a semi-covered meeting place. Much effort has been made to provide a wide variety of shops which each specialise in their own area. Even garment retailers cater for separate clientele, thereby complementing each other.

The builders and managing body of Atkinson Development and Construction, Ltd, Mr Grant Major Atkinson, the manager, says the centre has been designed so that it really has no real back entrance. “If you walk right around all you’ll see are shop fronts, unlike other cenventional shopping centres,” he said.

The slick, clean lines of the architecture are a Warren and Mahoney “trademark” which, Mr Major says is an attractive asset to the centre.

As an “open” design, it saves money for both developers and tenants, where neither in-mall heating or lighting is needed. By reducing such overheads, shops can more successfully serve and provide for centre customers.

In spite of the council’s willingness to develop Riccarton, it still has not allowed the growth to get “out of hand.”

“We have had to undertake the planning of a centre complex, because the Council would not allow small businesses to set up shops individually. That leads to a messy, and often patchy-looking retail area. Centres, however, give a neat, ‘together’ look,” said Mr Major.