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Central Milton Keynes shopping centre
The Central Milton Keynes shopping area is a regional shopping centre located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England which is about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. It comprises two adjacent shopping centres, thecentre:mk (a Grade II listed building, originally named the 'Shopping Building') which opened in 1979, and Midsummer Place, opened in 2000.
The centre:mk is anchored by John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. As of December 2024[update], the centre:mk (alone) is the 12th largest shopping centre in the UK,[better source needed] with the size of 133,416 m2 (1,436,080 sq ft).
The Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) began work on the Shopping Building in 1973. It was to be the largest building of Central Milton Keynes, and was built at almost the highest point in the "New City". The architects were Derek Walker, Stuart Mosscrop, and Christopher Woodward, who had been Chief and senior architects at the Development Corporation; and the engineers were Felix Samuely and Partners. The shopping area was opened on 25 September 1979 by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The building's sleek envelope accommodated 130 shops and six department stores, arranged along two parallel day-lit arcades, planted with sub-tropical and temperate trees.
The cool, elegant, steel framed design was influenced by the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and echoed glazed shopping streets or arcades on the grand scale of the Galleria in Milan. The designer, Derek Walker, also likened it to the Crystal Palace. It was described in 1993 as "still the best-looking if no longer the biggest shopping centre in the British Isles". It is unusual for second generation shopping centres in Europe for the amount of daylight allowed into the public areas, for the rigorous control of retail facias along the arcades themselves, for its public art, the unusually high level of accessibility for visitors with limited mobility (and other users laden with children and shopping), the lavish extent of the public spaces and their interior planting (reduced since the buildings was completed) and for the cool mirrored exterior.
Public access to all units is flush and at ground level. Some of the shops e.g. John Lewis and Next have two or three floors inside. A service road for deliveries runs above the shops, so that large trucks may service the shops at roof level, removing the peripheral service roads and loading bays at ground level that mar so many large shopping malls. This means all deliveries take place out of view of the shoppers, though tall trucks can sometimes be seen from the arcades as they pass at high level.
The internal landscaping was very lavish with 47 plant beds with large plants and trees; temperate in the northerly arcade and semi-tropical in the southerly one. The planters were finished in the same travertine as the floor, but approximately one third of these have been removed since the building was opened, with consequent loss of both planting and seating for shoppers, to accommodate market barrows and stalls.
There are two large public areas, intended as civic open spaces, one indoors and one open air. The open-air garden square (Queen's Court) lies between Midsummer Arcade and Silbury Arcade, just west of mid-point, which has been redesigned away from its original concept as a relaxation space for visitors. The indoor space (Middleton Hall) is 1,800-square-metre exhibition space near the east end. During 2010, Middleton Hall was used as a temporary home venue for the Milton Keynes Lions basketball team, housing a 1,200-seat arena.
In a central space outside the shopping building (but contained by it on three sides) is an open-air market, much of it under Secklow Gate (a flyover that gives first-floor service access to the shops' loading bays, as well as a useful North-South route).
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Central Milton Keynes shopping centre AI simulator
(@Central Milton Keynes shopping centre_simulator)
Central Milton Keynes shopping centre
The Central Milton Keynes shopping area is a regional shopping centre located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England which is about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. It comprises two adjacent shopping centres, thecentre:mk (a Grade II listed building, originally named the 'Shopping Building') which opened in 1979, and Midsummer Place, opened in 2000.
The centre:mk is anchored by John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. As of December 2024[update], the centre:mk (alone) is the 12th largest shopping centre in the UK,[better source needed] with the size of 133,416 m2 (1,436,080 sq ft).
The Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) began work on the Shopping Building in 1973. It was to be the largest building of Central Milton Keynes, and was built at almost the highest point in the "New City". The architects were Derek Walker, Stuart Mosscrop, and Christopher Woodward, who had been Chief and senior architects at the Development Corporation; and the engineers were Felix Samuely and Partners. The shopping area was opened on 25 September 1979 by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The building's sleek envelope accommodated 130 shops and six department stores, arranged along two parallel day-lit arcades, planted with sub-tropical and temperate trees.
The cool, elegant, steel framed design was influenced by the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and echoed glazed shopping streets or arcades on the grand scale of the Galleria in Milan. The designer, Derek Walker, also likened it to the Crystal Palace. It was described in 1993 as "still the best-looking if no longer the biggest shopping centre in the British Isles". It is unusual for second generation shopping centres in Europe for the amount of daylight allowed into the public areas, for the rigorous control of retail facias along the arcades themselves, for its public art, the unusually high level of accessibility for visitors with limited mobility (and other users laden with children and shopping), the lavish extent of the public spaces and their interior planting (reduced since the buildings was completed) and for the cool mirrored exterior.
Public access to all units is flush and at ground level. Some of the shops e.g. John Lewis and Next have two or three floors inside. A service road for deliveries runs above the shops, so that large trucks may service the shops at roof level, removing the peripheral service roads and loading bays at ground level that mar so many large shopping malls. This means all deliveries take place out of view of the shoppers, though tall trucks can sometimes be seen from the arcades as they pass at high level.
The internal landscaping was very lavish with 47 plant beds with large plants and trees; temperate in the northerly arcade and semi-tropical in the southerly one. The planters were finished in the same travertine as the floor, but approximately one third of these have been removed since the building was opened, with consequent loss of both planting and seating for shoppers, to accommodate market barrows and stalls.
There are two large public areas, intended as civic open spaces, one indoors and one open air. The open-air garden square (Queen's Court) lies between Midsummer Arcade and Silbury Arcade, just west of mid-point, which has been redesigned away from its original concept as a relaxation space for visitors. The indoor space (Middleton Hall) is 1,800-square-metre exhibition space near the east end. During 2010, Middleton Hall was used as a temporary home venue for the Milton Keynes Lions basketball team, housing a 1,200-seat arena.
In a central space outside the shopping building (but contained by it on three sides) is an open-air market, much of it under Secklow Gate (a flyover that gives first-floor service access to the shops' loading bays, as well as a useful North-South route).