brief: Store design for fashion retailer

Encompassing over 42 acres and one of the largest city centre developments in Europe, Liverpool one shopping centre has been described as "an urban renaissance". Developed by Grosvenor, the master plan has been to build a large retailer led mixed use development in a city with a shopping population of 557,000.

USC is the UK's number one retailer of branded clothing footwear and accessories, stocking top brands such as Diesel, Firetrap, Miss Sixty, Ted Baker and Lacoste. With over 57 stores in prime locations, their new store in Liverpool One needed a gritty urban design scheme to pull in the street savvy local consumers.

USC turned to Design CLD at an early stage because we have special expertise in Flagship Store design. Long lead times meant that key decisions for important elements had to be taken well in advance of building work. This involved completing feasibility studies for the the store entrance, lift, staircase, escalator, fitting rooms and cash desks. For this our past experience was invaluable. subsequently we worked very closely with USC's in house team and existing external suppliers to develop a coherent design scheme. We then prepared detailed plans and a specification and tendered the project.

Against the background of the credit crunch our input enabled USC to control shopfit costs and achieve significant savings.