Bury’s new retail development The Rock opens

More than 18,000 people visited The Rock Bury within two hours of its opening on Friday (16 July 2010).The only major retail scheme to open in the UK in 2010, The Rock adds 600,000 sq ft of retail floor space to the town and is 84% let by floor area on opening.

The £350m development also has a new 100,000 sq ft leisure quarter with cinemas, bowling, entertainment centre and new restaurants and creates a new leisure focus for the town.

The main retail street at The Rock, Central Street, extends the existing high street, linking with a new town square within the scheme - St John’s Square - which will become a focal point for the town centre 

With open streets, a new single level streetscape environment and double height shop fronts, The Rock has been successful in bringing new retail brands to the town including anchor store Debenhams.

The Rock Triangle area of Bury on which ‘The Rock’ is developed was originally identified as a potential extension to the town centre and proposals for a retail development on the site were supported in the Town Centre Vision and Development Strategy (2003). 

Following on from the Vision document, BDP’s masterplan for The Rock scheme took into account the historical street pattern and public realm context to make visual connections to local landmarks such as St Mary’s Church, and created an active ‘circuit’ to ensure the new development became fully integrated into the town centre.

The development will in due course also contain 408 one and two-bedroom apartments.

The Rock reinforces Bury’s position as a market town by providing an attractive new environment for people to enjoy.

BDP designed the Rock and Laing O'Rourke were contractors. Halifax Bank of Scotland owns the centre while developers Hammerson replaced Thornfield following its collapse. Agents are CBRE and GCW. DTZ is managing agent.