Galleries £60m expansion set to get go-ahead

Wigan Council is expected to approve plans for the redevelopment of the Galleries Shopping Centre at its planning committee meeting next Tuesday.

Asset manager Vale Retail submitted proposals for the 495,000 sq ft scheme in July this year.

The plans were first announced in November 2013, when Vale Retail and administrators for Propinvest Wigan said that they intended to modernise the struggling shopping centre and rename it the Makinson Quarter.

The current 150 units will be reconfigured into 26 larger units. The redevelopment will reinstate the old street pattern of the town bringing back Woodcock Street, Woodcock Square and re-aligned Hope Street. There would be a new link – Woodcock Arcade – between the development and Standishgate opposite M&S.

Makinson Arcade will be preserved as part of the proposals.

Once redeveloped, the centre will provide a mix of retail and leisure space, and will include a multi-screen cinema, family restaurants and a health centre.

Vale Retail is advising administrators Deloitte and CBRE, which were appointed to Propinvest's Gemini portfolio after it went into administration in 2012.

The scheme is designed by Comprehensive Design Architects, which is based in Edinburgh.

Construction is expected to take place over five years, with work beginning in 2015 if permission is granted.