North West

Flagship Primark store undergoes extensive refurbishment

A project to refurbish Primark Manchester continues to make great progress.

The extensive scheme is currently taking place across three-storeys of a six-storey building on Manchester’s Market Street. Each floor of the building covers an area of approximately 2,500 sq ft and work includes the modernisation of the sales floor across all three levels, improvements to the point of sale areas and refurbishment of back of house facilities.

In addition, changing rooms and display units are also receiving an upgrade to bring the site’s facilities in line with the brand’s target customer of fashion conscious under 35’s, whilst stylish lifts and escalators provide improved access to each floor. Air conditioning has also been installed at the site.

Work on the Primark Manchester Refurbishment project also involves the complete redesign and installation of lighting and emergency lighting, submains distribution, small power distribution and mechanical containment and wiring, along with the installation of fire alarm systems and telephone and data wiring.

All of the work on the Primark Manchester Refurbishment project is being undertaken whilst the store remains open to the public. In order to facilitate the works, areas of the site have been sectioned off whilst the improvement scheme takes place, however the store has remained operational at all times.

An entrance to the flagship store – located opposite Piccadilly Gardens – has already re-opened to the public and demonstrates a bright and very stylish entry point for customers. Meanwhile as the internal layout of the site has been reworked a substantial number of new partitions have been installed into the site to improve retail space.

Primark has over 150 stores throughout the UK, with additional sites in Ireland, Spain, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. As well as providing customers with a full range of dedicated lines which includes menswear, womenswear and childrenswear, the brand also stocks accessories, gifts and homewear.

The refurbishment scheme for Primark Manchester joins similar high-street retail refurbishment schemes that are taking place in the city centre, including reworked stores for H&M and Marks & Spencer. Meanwhile a number of new stores have recently opened for Levi’s, Hollister, Superdry and Lego.

The Primark Manchester Refurbishment project is currently scheduled to reach completion in spring 2013. ISG is the main contractor on the project, whilst Anthony O’Connor & Sons Ltd is involved with a number of the structural alteration works on the site.

Manchester-based company, Anthony O’Connor & Sons Ltd is conducting a number of structural alteration works on the site, including the strip out of balustrades and handrails, the removal of fixtures and fittings and the creation of new floor openings for lift shafts.

Commenting on the company’s involvement with the project, Anne Barton, Anthony O’Connor & Sons Ltd said:

“Working on the refurbishment scheme at Primark Manchester is very important to us; it is a different challenge and one that we are enjoying being a part of.”

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