Building the Trafford Centre – how a Manchester shopping institution was born

We know it for its grand food hall, variety of shops and iconic dome glass ceiling. The Trafford Centre, which opened in September 1998, has become both a huge attraction and a part of Greater Manchester life for almost three decades.

If you grew up in Manchester, The Trafford Centre is undoubtedly a place of nostalgia – standing by the dolphin fountain and waiting for it to shoot up streams of water into the air, or sitting in The Orient beside the food court pool (which definitely wasn’t for swimming in).

Its huge internal pillars, eccentric architecture and plush stairways lined with gold paint and miles of brass, complete with towering and impressive sculptures, are often overlooked during any regular visit to hit the shops, visit the cinema or dine in one of the many eateries on site.

But now, nostalgic throwback videos have shown the complex as it was finally being built in the 1990s following years of back and forth planning rows.

Archived time-lapse footage, shared on the Trafford Centre’s social media profiles, shows hundreds of workers on what was a hectic construction site before its doors finally opened 12 years after formal planning applications were first submitted – welcoming in a predicted 140,000 people on its first day.

Watch below:

The video, which had over 300,000 views, gave a new insight into the complex being built.

Glass dome ceilings could be seen being hoisted up by cranes, along with giant concrete slabs over the doorways, the construction of walkways in The Orient and two-storey Peel Avenue, and of course the Barton Square walkway being transported into the mammoth 180-acre site on lorries during the 27-month build.

It’s now hard to imagine the mammoth complex ever not being there. With its protruding structure, it was once just open green space beside the M60. Filled with crowds of shoppers and diners on a daily basis, footage has shown the site like it has never been seen before.

Workers in hard hats, high-vis jackets and driving tractors builders were on site for over two years, creating the shopping centre in its various parts as we now know it – Regent Crescent, The Orient, Peel Avenue, and Barton Square – which is now renamed as Trafford Palazzo and no longer a part of the Trafford Centre.

The gigantic retail space, which is the third largest in the UK at over 180,000 square metres, is located in Dumplington in Trafford and occupies land formerly owned by the Manchester Ship Canal, which opened in 1894.

The idea behind the opening of Trafford Centre was first conceived in 1984. But the approval on the planning application, first sought in ’86, was not upheld until years later. Peel Holdings acquired a controlling interest in the site by winning a long takeover battle for the Manchester Ship Canal Company.

For many years, it looked as though the Trafford Centre might never actually get built at all. The proposal was bounced around for more than nine years in an exhaustive public inquiry, with some of the main concerns in opposition being the retail impact for the city centre and its affect on surrounding traffic.

Planning permission was initially granted in 1988, subject to the Department of Transport’s satisfaction of a plan to improve the motorway system in the area. However, the issue of transport infrastructure in turn led to a second inquiry in 1992 where the consortium sought to ask whether the development was needed at all, in light of changed economic forecasts.

Nevertheless, The Trafford Centre was granted full planning permission in 1993 – a decision which was again challenged by the consortium, this time in the high courts. After two more years of fighting and appeals, the Trafford Centre was finally given the green light in 1995 by the House of Lords.

Construction began in May 1996 and took 27 months at a cost of £600 million, more than double the planned amount of £250 million. The centre succeeded in attracting big retailers to sign up straight away, with some of the first spaces being taken by Selfridges, Debenhams and Boots.

It’s neo-classical architectural style still makes the Trafford Centre unique as a shopping destination more than two decades on.

It wasn’t just the outside of the complex that resembled a cathedral of commerce, as inside visitors could gaze up to the heavens and marvel at the people who made the Trafford Centre become a reality.

Kent sculptor, Guy Portelli, was also commissioned to create 22 figures of classical maidens for the centre when it opened, which was believed to be the biggest sculpture project at the time.

Another stand out feature is the food court. The Orient is Europe’s largest food court and incorporates designs from around the world in themed zones, including China, New Orleans and Italy.

The Great Hall in The Orient is themed as a 1930s steam ship, another nod to the centre’s history, referencing the Manchester Ship Canal.

In 2008 it expanded further with the opening of the Barton Square and Great Hall extensions at a combined cost of over £100 million. The centre was later bought from Peel Holdings by Capital Shopping Centres in 2011 and re-branded as intu Trafford Centre in February 2013.

In 2020 the complex was bought by CPPIB, a Canadian property investor after Intu collapsed into administration under the weight of £5billion in debt. The shopping centre giant has also been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with many of its retail tenants going bust or unable to pay their rent.

And in 2021, the 350,000 sq ft Barton Square retail and leisure complex, home to Legoland Discovery Centre, SEA LIFE, and Next Home, was acquired by the original developers Peel L&L, following a series of bids on the site and renamed Trafford Palazzo.

Trafford Palazzo is linked to the main complex by the glazed bridge and incorporates a mock Italian Renaissance square with fountain and campanile tower, but is not actually part of the Trafford Centre.

Now more than 26 years after opening, throwback videos of The Trafford Centre being built was shared online. People shared their memories online, as one person commented: “My memory was coming in to the shopping centre as a child and being blown away by it’s scale. Even as an adult, that feeling of stepping inside never gets old.”

Another said: “In 1990 I worked on the original plans for the alarm systems in the Trafford Centre way way back when it was just land! Ordinally called “Dumplington” I now feel very old,” as a third said: “Worked on it myself. Can’t believe it was that long ago.”

“Went on the day it opened, entered through Debenhams. It was amazing to see the inside after watching it being built for so long. Staff all looked so smart in their red jackets and were all so helpful,” another visitor commented.