Livingston Centre Extension Opens

Elements Square, the £130m extension to the Almondvale shopping centre at Livingston in Scotland opened to the public on Thursday 16 October. This marks the sixth major retail-led scheme designed by BDP to open this year.

Elements Square, owned by Land Securities, is a major retail addition to the town centre. Conceived as six separate buildings united by a transparent ETFE roof, it creates a new public heart for Livingston, and includes a major covered tiered space with an upper level wintergarden.

The scheme adds approx 35,000 sq m of retail to Livingston bringing the total retail offer to over 90,000 sq m. It has attracted anchor stores Debenhams and Marks & Spencer, and created 34 new unit shops plus seven restaurants and two multi-storey car parks. Central to the scheme concept is a new tree-lined avenue of restaurants and bars, to ensure vibrancy both day and night.

Built with high sustainability credentials it is the first covered retail scheme in the UK to receive a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating. The buildings are highly insulated and constructed from low environmental impact materials with a long design life such as terracotta, stone and zinc. The public spaces are ventilated by an energy efficient air displacement system with natural air and smoke extract. Other environmentally friendly features include rainwater harvesting for flushing toilets and solar panels for preheating hot water.

BDP was appointed as masterplanner, architect, landscape architect and sustainability consultant. Other consultants were Arup (structural engineer and acoustic designer), Blackwood Partnership/Wallace Whittle (services engineer), GTMS (project manager/employers agent), Gardiner and Theobald (cost consultant), Scott Wilson (highway engineer), Montagu Evans (Planner), Pinniger & Partners (lighting designer), Faber Maunsell (BREEAM assessor). The contractor was Miller Construction.