News
1st September 2022
Celebrating 75 Years – 1980s Case Study: Queens West Shopping Centre
Queens West was an exciting project in the heart of Cardiff for Dixon Commercial Properties and involved the partial demolition and major redevelopment of the existing retail premises, as well as the demolition and reconstruction of an adjoining building behind a retained façade.
Opening in 1987, the result was a three-level shopping gallery and atrium with top floor food court, which boasted glass lifts and the longest glass sided escalator in Europe. The development of this, as well as another two malls, helped Queen Street to become one of the best performing shopping streets in the country, in terms of footfall, at the time.
The alteration work, including an additional storey added to the retained building, required extensive analysis of the existing structure. The presence of a canal tunnel beneath the site created a challenging situation for the new foundations of the Atrium area. Nonetheless, the project was completed and opened within two years from the date of our initial survey, utilising steel framing, a precast flooring system, and lightweight aerated precast walling units.