Olympia Centre puts shopping in a class of its own

The development is by Land Securities and the development corporation,

and adds the final icing to the town's shopping cake. When first built,

East Kilbride's shopping centre was the first in the UK to provide

shelter from the elements. Now the final elements of a well-rounded,

mature town have been put into place.

The development, now open and trading for Christmas, will ensure that

East Kilbride retains its position as a key regional shopping centre,

providing facilities for a large number of people in north Lanarkshire

and the south side of Glasgow.

The development represents the fourth, and final, phase of East

Kilbride's Town Centre. It includes two supermarkets, 31 shop units and

a refurbishment of the existing Alexandra Arcade.

No modern shopping centre is complete without a strong element of

leisure, and Olympia is no exception. It contains an ice rink, a

nine-screen multiplex cinema and a 20,000sq.ft library. The food court

provides a pleasant place for people to meet friends, spectate beside

the ice rink, or just watch the world go by.

The development also adds a further 1110 car parking spaces to those

available in the Town Centre. Other recent improvements include a new

bus interchange that is fully integrated into the centre, and

improvements to the road network, allowing easier access to the shops

and car parking.

The development corporation is hoping to have the town's railway

extended from the village station right into the centre, and the

necessary permission from Parliament is being sought.

The development is the UK's third largest climate-controlled shopping

centre. At the same time the adjacent Plaza has also had its central

square roofed over as part of a #5m refurbishment. The square is now

occupied by a bustling cafe under a glazed, gull-winged roof.

The 14-year-old Plaza is owned by British Land, which was keen to

update the popular shopping centre to ensure that it would take its

place alongside the Olympia as a key element in East Kilbride's shopping

provision. The Plaza has been given a new look with modern tiling, new

lighting, hanging plants and banners. The Plaza now has a covered link

with the Olympia.

There is a possibility that Princes Square, the last remaining

uncovered shopping pitch in the Town Centre, will also soon be protected

from the weather.

It all adds up to more than a million square feet of top quality

covered shopping space. Many of the UK's leading multiple retailers have

taken units in East Kilbride's Town Centre, strengthening its attraction

for the 636,000 people who live within a 20-minute drive of the complex.

The town's own population of 70,000 gives it a strong base from which

to trade, but the centre will also allow East Kilbride to compete

effectively with retail pitches in Glasgow and north Lanarkshire. A

large catchment of people in places like Clarkston, Eaglesham,

Strathaven, Hamilton, Blantyre and Rutherglen also use East Kilbride as

their shopping centre.

The new Olympia Centre has an attractive design, with extensive use of

mirrored glass to give the exterior a sparkling image. The lines have

been softened by the addition of ''landscape'' troughs between the first

and second floors and along the roof line. When these are fully planted,

the foliage reflected in the mirrored glass will add a new dimension to

the exterior look of the building.

Overcoming the problems of temperature zones and noise was a key

challenge for the architects and builders, who were faced with the

daunting task of putting a cold ice rink into the middle of a shopping

centre that needed to stay comfortably warm.

The problems of integrating a large cold area with shopping

requirements were further compounded by the fact that the design called

for the centre food court to adjoin the rink.

The recipe for success was a concrete example of Baked Alaska -- an

ice-cold chunk in the middle surrounded by a pleasantly warm ambience

for eating or shopping. The sophisticated heating and ventilation plant

allows diners in the food court to sit in comfort only a few feet away

from the edge of the rink, with no heat escaping to melt the ice or cold

draughts to disturb the diners.

As a final touch of comfort for shoppers, the Town Centre now has

additional car parking facilities. Nobody likes the gloomy recesses of

the typical car park, but East Kilbride's new facilities are a major

improvement on the usual standard of car parking.

Instead of the traditional alienating (sometimes frightening) concrete

maze, the new car park consists of ''trays'' that allow a lot of light

to be thrown into the ground floor area. You wouldn't want to have a

picnic there, but you'll feel safer than usual.

It is all part of the kind of commitment to detail which the

development corporation is keen to put into place before it is formally

wound up by the Secretary of State for Scotland.