Northwest Shopping Centre’s new look unveiled

NorthWest_RED_4232_G1_skew3Westgate’s Northwest Shopping Centre has unveiled its newly completed NZ$155 million centre redevelopment, creating a new Auckland retail, food and lifestyle destination spanning the equivalent of four football fields.

Covering 35,035sqm, the town centre features nearly 100 retail stores, a contemporary food court seating around 500 people and landscaped public spaces. It is home to anchor tenants Farmers and Countdown, along with well-known brands, such as Glassons, Barkers, Max and Hannahs.

Designed by Australasian architecture firm The Buchan Group, the shopping centre recently won the 2016-2017 Asia Pacific Property Award for Retail Development and Retail Architecture, New Zealand, and Gold in the NZ Commercial Property Awards. It also received a Merit at the Property Council New Zealand Property Industry Awards 2016.

David Thornton, Buchan Group principal, said the Northwest Shopping Centre forms the heart of the new Westgate Town Centre, an integral part of the broader Westgate development.

“The centre’s interior design reflects a strong sense of place, embracing the rich tones of the black sand beaches of the nearby rugged West Coast, leafy surrounding vineyards and variety of colourful fruit farms and market gardens surrounding,” Thornton said.

“For example, tiling layouts reflect the shapes and colours of sand washed up on the wild beaches, and a timber feature ceiling mimics the light tones and repetitive nature of a wine barrel. Even the perforated metal screens in the food court create a dappled light effect similar to that seen under the shady pergolas of a winery.”

NorthWest_RED_5097_G1Thornton said the design draws on the firm’s international retail design experience, including future proofing NorthWest with the ability to accommodate future retail demand. “Also, catering for the customer, this centre has the largest caregiver’s room in New Zealand which is an important amenity for customers in the region.”

He said sustainability was encouraged and provided for in the design, including careful placement, sizing and orientation of windows to control solar gain – including clerestory windows flooding natural light along the length of the mall – long-life LED lighting with sensors, high efficiency heat pumps for cooling, and high efficiency closed loops cooling towers.

“Outside, dynamic building façades define street frontages and flank the main entry to the mall. The traditional ‘Main Street’ retail component is integrated with the internal retail model, complementing one another to provide a new, exciting, cohesive shopping experience.”

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