The former Arndale Centre in Wandsworth, South London has seen a dramatic refurbishment and repositioning design by Leslie Jones and leading to its relaunch as 'Wandsworth Southside'.

No work had been undertaken on the scheme since the 1970s, resulting in an exodus of national multiples and their replacement by temporary tenants and a void level of 40%.

The aims and objectives of the project were to:

	Deliver a scheme which satisfied modern retailers' requirements
	Provide a much improved shopping and leisure environment for customers
	Enhance the public realm and urban streetscape around the scheme in conjunction with Transport for London and Wandsworth Borough Council
	Shift perceptions of the centre
	Increase the footfall from the core and outer catchment area (predominantly ABC consumers who had deserted the scheme)
	Increase Zone A rents which had remained static at £35 per sq ft for over a decade with a new target Zone A in excess of £100 per sq ft.

Through extensive research, discussions with WBC and new retailers, a dramatic transformation was planned which facilitated new anchor tenants Waitrose, Cine UK and Virgin Active. The new layout for the scheme required the demolition of one third of the existing centre to provide the new anchor footprints and improved car parking required.

With the enhanced scheme proposals, and Waitrose and Cine UK in place, the letting agents were able to secure 24 pre-let agreements in order to facilitate the financing arrangement to secure state on site in August 2002.

The scheme now provides a strong mix of local, comparison and destination shopping.

The architectural design of both the extension and refurbished areas had to give external and internal appearance to the dramatic shift in the scheme's position within the town centre.

One of the key areas in this was to renew completely the finishes in the malls, along with all the lighting and life safety systems. It was recognised that one the principal objectives was to introduce natural light. This has been carefully done to minimise the impact on the residential flats above and to maintain the flats' amenity space on the existing roof.

Timeless quality finishes have been utilised to provide a high quality environment. In particular, the selection of limestone for the flooring has been seen as dramatically raising the perceived quality of the internal mall environment and the decision to install the new floor as an early package ahead of the other finishes was instrumental in building new confidence and support for the repositioning.

Over the past four years since WLP acquired the scheme, rents have increased from £35za to £120za (today's prime zone A) as a result of the £70 million refurbishment.

Following the successful sale of the project to Metro Fund, a joint venture between Delancey and Land Securities, Leslie Jones has been retained to design further improvements to the schemes retail layout and residential provision.

"The boys designed the perfect layout for us"
Steve Wiener, Cineworld

"The opening levels of trade have given us reason to be extremely confident about the future of this store"
Nigel Burton, Waitrose