Market Walk is a mixed-use regeneration scheme in the heart of Chorley Town Centre. It has been designed as an 8-unit extension to the traditional retail centre and includes a diverse mix of new retail and leisure uses - including a new multiplex cinema.

Project Credits

Chorley Borough CouncilClient
ChorleyLocation
Retail & Leisure Sectors
Architecture, Masterplanning Services
78,800 sq ftSize
£13mValue
2015 - 2019Programme
CompleteStatus
BREAAM Very GoodCertifications
Andrew Livesey / ShackerleyPhotography

A day to night

destination

8 vibrant new

retail & leisure units

6 screen

Reel cinema

BREEAM accredited

Very Good

The Brief & Design Development

We were appointed by Chorley Council in 2015 as Architects for the Market Walk Scheme.

The Council’s aspiration was to breathe life back into the town centre by enhancing Chorley’s retail and leisure offer and refocusing Chorley’s centre as a destination for local residents and surrounding towns. The development needed to entice new, and retain existing, businesses in the town. Aesthetically, the development also needed to be a landmark for, and create a modern gateway into, the town – driving footfall towards Chorley’s commercial centre.

The site presented several challenges including being a high-profile location, being occupied by a busy town centre car park and having had many historical uses. We therefore undertook extensive site analysis and wide-ranging stakeholder consultation to ensure a robust understanding of the site and ensure an appropriate design response.

Many stakeholders struggled to visualise the plans, so we utilised 3D imagery and virtual reality presentations to aid communication and local decision making. This helped the community to understand the relationship between different elements of the scheme, the wider area and the scale of the development. This resulted in public support for the proposals.

“The redevelopment of such a prime town centre site was fraught with problems as the enablement works were far reaching.... AEW was responsive and adaptive in helping the council tackle such a wide variety of enabling schemes ahead of delivering the main development...”

Conrad Heald Markets & Town Centre Manager, Chorley Borough Council

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The Outcome

[01]

Completed in 2019, the extension now offers visitors to the town a mix of retail and leisure venues. This includes a 6-screen Reel multiplex cinema, bowling and indoor golfing, 7 new retail and food and beverage units, a new car park and high-quality public realm.

The completed scheme creates the desired landmark development the Council aspired to. It creates a modern gateway into the town’s retail offer and, by creating bespoke large retail units for specific retailers, has helped bring new and retain existing brand names in the town centre. This has resulted in increased footfall, including a thriving evening and night-time economy.

- The new restaurant/bar and cinema

The development has been carefully designed to improve connectivity to the wider area and encourage footfall.

Design features

The height of the building identifies it as a landmark within the town.
The curved façade, creates a feature and opens up views into the site.
The anchor cinema is located on corner, creating a prominent entrance into the site.
Glazed ground floors create active frontages and safe routes through the site.
New and upgraded pedestrian crossings are incorporated in and around the site.
New and upgraded pedestrian crossings are incorporated in and around the site.

[02]

The development has breathed life back into the town centre, creating a vibrant mix of retail and leisure and refocussing the town centre as a destination for residents of Chorley and surrounding towns.

Through clever masterplanning of vistas and routes, the scheme also now links seamlessly with the existing town centre to encourage transfer of visitors via the improved public realm and adjacent car parking.

With a focus on sustainability, the final scheme achieved BREEAM ‘Very Good’.

Client Testimonials

“Having dealt with several members of AEW throughout the length of our project, we have found them to work extremely well with both the client team and wider project team. They are very knowledgeable of other schemes with similarities to ours and offer up advice based on that experience as well as adapting to new ideas and constraints placed on them by us as client.”

Conrad Heald Markets & Town Centre Manager, Chorley Borough Council