Transforming a 1960s shopping centre into a street-based, mixed-use town centre

Located in Maidenhead in Berkshire, the redevelopment of The Nicholson Shopping Centre will see a comprehensive regeneration that will transform an obsolete, outdated 1960’s single-use shopping centre into a new, vibrant, mixed-use quarter. The project is one of the first ‘shopping centre to town centre’ regeneration initiatives in the UK, designed specifically to address the changing landscape of high streets in our towns and cities.

The site is reimagined into a ground-breaking, people-focussed, mixed-use urban quarter that brings together 660 homes, new workspace for 2,000 people, 60 shops and restaurants, and 1.5 acres of public realm. High-quality, buildings will enclose and define new public realm in a more traditional urban form, reinstating the original streets and spaces lost by the development of the shopping centre. Central to the plan will be ‘Sir Nicholas Winton Square,’ named by local residents in honour of his act of bravery during World War II.

A curated ground-level retail offer will be focussed along key streets, Sir Nicholas Winton Square and The Yards to establish an exciting street scene. Retail floorspace has been reduced by 50% to be replaced with smaller and more interesting retail units, which are specifically designed for local and independent businesses; a concept that responds to local requirements, as well as the changing needs of the retail sector.

Reflecting the climate emergency, the project is the most sustainable proposed in the borough. The renewable strategy goes beyond Building Regulations and focuses on greening the streets with an extensive tree-planting programme of 173 trees to reinstate nature’s position in the town centre.

The project integrates with Wild Maidenhead’s Biodiversity Action Plan, forming better connections to the existing surrounding public green spaces through the creation of green and blue infrastructure and green corridors.

Several thousand people, including many schools, colleges and hard-to-reach groups participated in JTP’s extensive community planning process. Designed to be as inclusive as possible, part of our engagement and planning process included attending the Disability and Inclusion Forum and collaborating with a local, partially-sighted teenager to discuss how accessibility for people with mobility issues could be fully incorporated to the proposals. This included a JTP Partner undertaking a walkabout of the centre, blindfolded to understand the challenges of visual impairment.

Active involvement with the community throughout the design development has been crucial to ensure feedback could be employed to evolve the masterplan in an iterative way – resulting in 82% support for our plans which were unanimously approved at Planning Committee.

The Nicholson Quarter has since been acknowledged as a Winner at the Planning Awards 2022, being successful in the Stakeholder Engagement in Planning category.