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Commercial Property

Plans unveiled for redevelopment of Durham City shopping centre

Citrus Group, in a joint venture with Galliard Homes, has submitted a planning application for Prince Bishops’ Place shopping centre

How the redeveloped Prince Bishops' Place would look at night.(Image: PB IMAGING)

A North East shopping centre is poised to be redeveloped to safeguard its future, adding new uses including a hotel and student housing.

Citrus Group, the real estate and investment company behind Integra 61 business park in County Durham, has formed a joint venture with Galliard Homes to create a new vision for the Prince Bishops’ Place shopping centre in Durham. Following a public consultation exercise last summer to find ways to reinvigorate the fading shopping centre, the firms have now submitted a planning application for a redevelopment which will include shops, leisure uses, a new public square, student accommodation and a new hotel, to boost the city centre’s viability while breathing new life into the area.

Around 175 jobs will be created if the scheme is given the go ahead, including roles in retail, hospitality and wider supply chain once it opens, also contributing around £6.8m of GVA in economic output to the city. New images have been released which show how the mixed use scheme will look, based between Elvet Bridge and Market Square and overlooking the River Wear.

The scheme will provide retail space to meet the future retail needs of a mix of independents and national retailers and the 400 space lower level multi-storey car park will be kept. New walkways, landscaping and seating with views across the River Wear are planned in, to attract more visitors and increase the time they spend in Durham.

A new public square could host public events and will be the centrepiece of the scheme, alongside main entrances to the hotel and student accommodation as well as some of the shops, restaurants and leisure facilities.

The redevelopment marks a new era for the shopping centre, which opened in 1998 and has become a victim of well-reported changes in the retail sector over the past decade, which has seen the demise of many big name high street retailers. The issues were compounded by the lockdowns during the Covid pandemic. Now, with high vacancy rates and little demand from national retailers, Robert Dibden, planning director at Lichfields, said it is vital that the centre reinvents itself and offers other reasons to visit.

Robert Dibden, planning director at Lichfields, added: “By re-purposing an existing, failing shopping centre, this scheme offers a great opportunity to both strengthen the vitality and viability of the City Centre, creating a vibrant destination that people will want to spend time in, and put Prince Bishops Place onto a viable financial footing, safeguarding its future. It will also significantly improve the overall design quality and appearance of the centre by introducing a finer grain of development which more closely reflects the historic character of Durham City.”

James Taylor , regional director at Citrus Group, said: “After 15 months of work, we are very pleased to have submitted this complex planning application. It has been a productive journey, engaging with many stakeholders in and around the City, to evolve this development project into what it is today. We believe we have balanced the many competing needs which result in a scheme which will be a real positive for the City. We look forward to continuing this journey through the planning process, and seeing it come to fruition.”