Addington to complete retail scheme by Christmas

Investment and asset manager Addington Capital has received planning consent for a £3m redevelopment of Charter Walk Shopping Centre in Burnley.

The Market Square area of the centre will be refurbished and the the eastern side of The Square reconfigured to provide three new double-height retail units. The new units will range from 6,000 sq ft to 10,230 sq ft over two trading floors.

In addition, the existing café building in The Square will be removed and replaced with a new glazed café pod structure with additional external seating extending to 1,335 sq ft.

Charter Walk Shopping Centre comprises 365,000 sq ft of retail floor space accompanied by 15,000 sq ft of office accommodation and a 77,000 sq ft Market Hall. Charter Walk is supported by 737 car parking spaces and has nine million visitors a year.

Alex Wagstaff, partner at Addington Capital, said: "It is vital that Charter Walk moves with the times to keep up with the changing retail market and habits of local shoppers. The reconfigured shopping centre will provide modern retail accommodation for Burnley and we anticipate that it will attract a number of high quality retailers to the town. We are delighted to have had the plans approved and hope the improvements to Charter Walk will help to strengthen the Town Centre's appeal, in turn increasing the attraction of Burnley as a retail destination."

Work on the redevelopment project is scheduled to begin later this year with the new units expected to be trading by Christmas 2012.