Runcorn Shopping City

Runcorn Shopping City (formerly Halton Lea and Runcorn Shopping Centre) is a medium-sized indoor shopping centre in Runcorn, England. Opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972, it is the main shopping area in Runcorn and is visited around 6.5 million times per year. It was the largest enclosed shopping centre in Europe at the time of its construction and remains the largest in Cheshire.

Runcorn was designated as a New Town in 1964 and a masterplan drawn up which would see the town more than double in size. The site of the town centre for Runcorn New Town was a source of conflict between Arthur Ling, the New Town Master Planner, and Fred Roche, Chief Architect. Whereas Ling envisaged a centre reminiscent of a citadel or acropolis at the base of Halton Castle and at the geographical centre of the expanded town, Roche preferred to redevelop the existing town centre, partly to placate the Urban District Council and existing traders. Ling's vision was favoured and a greenfield site near Halton Village was chosen.

Shopping City was to be the centrepiece of Runcorn New Town. Ling, envisaged that it would become the "natural meeting place for the town's social and cultural life as well as for shopping, offices and specialised amenities such as theatre, library, central sports hall etc." It would also be linked to the new law courts, police station and general hospital.

Roche's design was influenced by the fully enclosed, drive-in shopping malls that had begun to emerge in North America in the 1960s. The design is of a megastructure of pyramid roofs on an alternating grid of 108 feet (33 m) and 18 feet (5.5 m). The former gives large spans and allows for flexible shop space without columns, and the latter is for services and vertical access points.

The building is raised on columns, partly to tackle the valley like topography, but also to allow the segregation of cars, buses and pedestrians on three different levels. Vehicles arrive at ground level, giving access to the four multi-storey car parks on each corner for customers and to the shop basements for deliveries. Pedestrians arrive at the shopping level using elevated walkways from neighbouring estates such as the radical but ill-fated Southgate Estate. Buses arrive at the highest level on an elevated section of the Runcorn Busway, the world's first bus rapid transit system, which circles the town in a figure of 8 with Shopping City at the centre.

Construction began in 1968 by John Laing Group, commissioned by Grosvenor Estate Commercial Developments Limited and the Runcorn Development Corporation. The build cost £10 million and was privately financed by Grosvenor. The centre was completed by 1971 and Runcorn Shopping City was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 5 May 1972.

Shopping City and all of its surrounding ancillary buildings were encased in brilliant white tiles which were chosen to be self-cleansing; their crisp whiteness contrasting with the hill to the north and the trees and dense planting which would come to surround it. On its opening, The Times commented that, 'Shopping City is possibly the nearest planners have come to the sort of building imagined by science fiction writers. In appearance, it resembles a supersonic mosque, with gleaming white bricks even on the dullest day'. It also noted the 'clarity of the design of shops, malls and public squares' and the 'spacious, beautifully lighted shops'.

The interior was finished with white terrazzo floor tiles throughout and Sicilian marble lining the walls, columns and shop fronts. The shops are laid out along malls in an H formation, with the 'Town Square' in the centre. There is a second storey around the square intended for restaurants and bars.