The concept is based around a “co-retail” model, that gives small independent retailers, emerging brands and everyday high-street businesses a prominent street-level presence, while allowing back-of-house functions such as storage, staff areas and servicing to be shared elsewhere within the building. Rather than relying on large anonymous retail units, the proposal seeks to reintroduce the variety, intimacy and social exchange traditionally associated with local high streets.

At ground level, small retail units, lanes and alleyways create a finer grain of movement through the development. A clear hierarchy of public spaces focuses attention on the experience of walking, pausing and meeting, not simply on the buildings themselves. Red brick, tactile stone paving and natural planting help establish a welcoming and durable public realm. The result is a placemaking strategy that brings the often overlooked heart and soul of the high street back into a larger commercial regeneration framework.