First glimpse of Shrewsbury Riverside plans

This is the first glimpse of what a proposed new £150 million shopping centre in Shrewsbury town centre will look like.

Officials have taken the wraps off their plans which will see the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside shopping centres merged to create one mall including a new department store, up to 60 new shops and restaurants.

As part of the scheme, the Riverside Shopping Centre will be razed and rebuilt with links created into the other two centres which will be refurbished.

Owner of the centres, UK Commercial Property Trust, is being advised by Ignis Real Estate and the Shearer Property Group.

David Rodger, of Ignis, today said he hoped the design, which would involve linking the Frankwell footbridge into the centre, would win the backing of the people of Shrewsbury.

Mr Rodger said the new centre would also include a grid shell roof made of glass which was similar to the one at Cabot Circus in Bristol.

He said the new mall's working name was New Riverside although a final name had not yet been decided.

"The design was put together by Chapman Taylor architects and it took a long time to crack the design because of the different options we explored," he said.

"It's quite spectacular and it makes really good use of the River Severn which isn't the case at the moment.

"The scheme is naturally ventilated and there is protection from the weather from the grid shell roof.

"The centre is very modern in design and there will be restaurants and different leisure uses on the top levels."

Mr Rodger said the occupier of the proposed department store had not yet been identified but claimed bosses did have aspirations as to which firm they would like.

He encouraged as many people as possible to attend a public exhibition for the plans which will be held in the Darwin Shopping Centre between July 14 and 16.

If approved, work could start on site by summer 2013 and be completed by autumn 2015.

By Russell Roberts