Patton Fit-Out new retail ‘icon’ in North East

Patton Fit-Out has just completed work on a massive new Debenhams store in Newcastle in the North East of England. 

 The 180,000 sq ft four floor Debenhams store officially opened on Tuesday 16 February.  

 The development forms part of a single-level mall extension at Eldon Square Shopping Centre in the city, which will house Debenhams as an anchor tenant in a self styled icon store. 

 The Eldon upgrade is part of a wider, multi-agency strategy designed to position Newcastle as the shopping capital of the region.   

 Patton Fit-Out Key Account Manager Garry Robinson’s site team – which at times included over 100 specialists – started on site 26 weeks ago, and saw the culmination of their efforts just before Christmas, when the project was completed ahead of the scheduled official opening event. 

 Eldon marks the latest milestone in Patton Fit-Out’s 20 year + relationship with the retail giant, and is their most extensive fit-out project for Debenhams in either GB or Ireland. 

 Garry said that it wasn’t just the scale of the project that marked it out as uniquely challenging:

 “The sales floors were completed to the highest specification and include laser-cut ceramic tiles throughout, which was one of many challenging aspects of the project. 

 The atrium area included eight escalators and the range of merchandising units to be installed meant that we were working at full capacity for the entire 26 week period.”

 Debenhams at Eldon is setting a new standard in store design in a drive to capture market share and secure customer loyalty in an increasingly competitive retail environment. 

 Director of Patton Fit-Out, Brendan Boyd, believes that the company is well positioned to capitalise on their Debenhams experience to win more contracts from the sector this year: 

 “Patton Fit-Out has been working with Debenhams for over 20 years, and just this month we have begun two 18 week long refurbishment projects on stores in Manchester and Glasgow. 

 “The large blue-chip retailers want contractors to deliver projects at any time and place, at competitive prices and without compromising on quality. 

 “It’s important that we’re seen to measure up to these challenges in what continues to be a particularly tough trading climate”. 

(from left) Peter Belshaw, Debenhams Eldon Square Manager & Garry Robinson, Patton Fit-Out Key Account Manager at store opening