Teesside, Stockton celebrated its 25th birthday at the weekend with events that brought together retailers, consumers, the centre team and the local community.
Since opening in October 1991, Teesside has welcomed more than 150 million shoppers through its doors and made an important contribution to the Tees Valley as a driver of regeneration, jobs, training, economic success and caring for the local community.
A £30m complete transformation of the scheme is underway and includes the introduction of new, double-height bespoke glazed shopfronts, a new management suite with improved customer facilities, the creation of smaller units and high quality public realm. Facade improvement works have already been completed on 15 units this year with more planned for 2017.
New retailers introduced to the scheme as a result of the refurbishment so far include Paperchase, Moss Bros, Charles Clinkard, Holland & Barrett, Nando’s and EE. Both River Island and Next have upsized to 16,700 sq ft overall and 55,000 sq ft overall respectively. The combination of all of the above has resulted in increases in dwell time, frequency, retail conversion and catering spend and an innovative new food concept will be launched next month.
The centre contributes £50 million each year to the Tees Valley economy and 6% of all business rates collected by Stockton and Middlesbrough Councils, worth £8.7 million a year, come from Teesside. The centre supports 1 job in every 100 with up to 2,400 jobs at the centre. 80% of people who work at Teesside live in Stockton and Middlesbrough and there are currently 30 apprentices at the centre learning while they earn.
Teesside also supports the local community with £234,000 contributed over the last five years which has benefitted local people, charities and community groups. Over the past five years almost 1,300 school children have chosen free books and taken part in fun, educational literacy events at Teesside as part of British Land’s long term sponsorship of the National Literacy Trust’s Young Readers Programme.
Teesside is ranked the number two UK centre by Javelin and the number four UK super park by CACI and is one of the best trading schemes in the country for many retailers.
Charles Maudsley, Head of Retail & Leisure for British Land, said: “We are extremely proud to have been at the heart of the Tees Valley community since 1991. We continue to invest in Teesside in response to the changing ways people live their lives to ensure it remains an outstanding place for modern consumer lifestyles for the next 25 years.”
Teesside comprises 475,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space and is home to more than 50 retail and leisure brands including Marks & Spencer, Next, H&M and River Island.
