Milestone for Queen St dining project

The £12 million Queen St Dining regeneration project which will see the creation of a brand new dining destination in the heart of Exeter has reached its latest milestone.

Owners Aviva Investors are breathing new life into the Guildhall Shopping Centre by reconfiguring the existing buildings to create a series of high-specification restaurants and improvements to the public realm space.

Work on this complex project is now shifting from the deconstruction stage, where materials are being removed from the existing buildings and adaptions made, to the construction stage, with new material being brought in. Shoppers and traders in the Guildhall will now start to see even more dramatic changes as the 80 metre tower crane brings in large glazed panels and other major architectural features.

Shoppers are able to view progress on the public areas areas including around 13th Century St Pancras Church and see the shells of the existing buildings stripped back. Last week the High Street entrance to the Guildhall Shopping Centre was opened right up, revealing a new open double height space, giving a glimpse of how shoppers in the future will experience entering the Centre from that approach.

This is the first time any major work has taken place at the Guildhall since it opened over 40 years ago and work is taking place while maintaining a 'busy as usual' approach with the Guildhall Shopping Centre fully open. Work on the the impressive barrel-vaulted Queen Street Ambulatory continues at a pace with shoppers being guided seamlessly onto Queen St through a specially designed covered walkway.

Simon Green, Associate Director of Aviva Investors said: “This is an exciting time for us at Aviva Investors, the buildings have been stripped back and all the materials and adaptations have been made ready for the real transformation phase, when we start to see Exeter's new dining quarter at Queen St take shape.

It has been great to hear feedback from shoppers who are impressed with how we, along with our partners ISG, are making so much progress whilst ensuring they can still fully enjoy visiting the shopping centre.”
So far half of the eight restaurants: The Terrace – A Craft Brew Bar; GBK; Turtle Bay and The Stable have been announced, with Aviva also in discussions with tenants for all the remaining units in the Dining Hub, with announced due to me made over the coming months.

For further information about the Queen St redevelopment, please visit: www.queenst-exeter.com