Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre

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Mall facts and statistics
Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre
Midsummer Place

Location	Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
Opening date	September 25, 1979
Developer	MKDC
Owner	Prudential, Hermes, and Legal & General
No. of stores and services	over 260
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	1,790,000 ft² (166,000 m²)
Parking	over 17,000 spaces nearby
No. of floors	1
Website	thecentre:mk Midsummer Place

Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre is a regional shopping centre located in Milton Keynes, England which is 46 miles north-west of London. It is managed in two separate parts, thecentre:mk and Midsummer Place.

1 Development
2 Features
3 Art
4 Future
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Development

The Milton Keynes Development Corporation began work on the original "Shopping Building" in 1973. The architects were Derek Walker, Stuart Mosscrop, and Chris Woodward; the engineers were Felix Samuely and Partners, and the design followed the minimalist principles of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It was envisaged as European-style glass-covered shopping streets or arcades on the scale of the Galleria in Milan, and it formed a glass-and-steel envelope for 130 shops and six department stores, arranged down two parallel daylit streets, planted with tropical and temperate trees. The shopping area was opened on 25 September 1979 by Margaret Thatcher. It was described in 1993 as "still the best-looking if no longer the biggest shopping centre in the British Isles".^[1]

In 1993, the building was extended at the western end, over what was the City Square.

Midsummer Place is effectively a southwards extension of the centre; it was designed by GMW Architects of London and opened in 2000. Part of Midsummer Boulevard had to be closed to accept the connecting arch: the Milton Keynes Council transport strategy calls for it to be re-opened to facilitate a "public transport spine" bus route along the Boulevard, from the station to Campbell Park.

[edit] Features

Fountain in Queen's Court at thecentre:mk

Oak Court in Midsummer Place

There is an open-air garden square (Queen's Court); there is a covered exhibition hall (Middleton Hall); and Midsummer Place was built around an existing oak tree that survives in an open area (Oak Court).

Outside the centre is an open-air market. Also, on the other side of Midsummer Boulevard, there is another building (the Food Centre) containing food shops.

[edit] Art

Queen's Court contains the following works of art:

a sundial and associated bollards (Bollards) by Tim Minett (1979)
a bronze group of people (Vox Pop) by John Clinch (1988)
three bronze figures by Philomena Davis (1989)
a mosaic pavement from the Roman villa at Bancroft (circa AD 320).

Oak Court contains:

bronze acorns and leaves by Tim Ward.

The Midsummer Place building contains:

a stained-glass window by Ann Smyth
a bronze seat (Sitting on History) by Bill Woodrow (1996)
an animated clock conceived by Kit Williams.

[edit] Future

The Milton Keynes Partnership has plans to completely redevelop the shopping centre and extend it onto surrounding car parking as part of its CMK strategy. These plans are controvertial because they would mean the loss of the unique appearance of the building. Additionally there are plans for the erection of dwellings around the shopping centre which runs the risk of hampering movement around and in and out of the shopping centre as well as spoiling views of the building. One aspect of this expansion would be Waitrose relocating to be next to its partner John Lewis.

[edit] Trivia

The Milton Keynes shopping centre is in the Guinness Book of World Records, holding the title of World's Longest Shopping Mall.
At the end of the BBC Newsnight programme on 23 January 2007, an advertising trailer for Central Milton Keynes was played to celebrate the town's 40th anniversary.