M&S plans larger Arena Park store with expanded Food Hall

Coventry City Council has approved Marks & Spencer’s plan to expand its Arena Park Shopping Centre store, subject to conditions including approval of a Construction Management Plan before work can start.

The expansion is planned to take over the unit currently occupied by Just for Pets. The pet retailer is expected to move into the adjacent shop, which was previously occupied by Fabb Furniture and has been empty since.

The enlarged store would have 6,048 square metres of floor space across its ground floor and mezzanine. The Food Hall would be expanded, with M&S saying the shop would carry its full food range, including Plant Kitchen and Eat Well, as well as clothing, home and beauty products.

The company has also outlined staffed and self-service counters and in-store collection services. It estimates the expanded store would employ about 130 people in full- and part-time roles, an increase of 42 on the existing 88 colleagues.

The council’s approval requires a Construction Management Plan to be submitted and approved in writing before any work begins. Conditions also cover proposed cycle storage and the materials to be used in the development. The timing of construction therefore depends on the plan receiving council approval; no start date is given in the available details.

The external changes include replacing the existing canopy and totem signage with a more contemporary, goalpost-style frontage. A council planning officer’s assessment said the design differed from the retail park’s established architectural approach, but was not opposed in principle given the unit’s prominence.

Urban Design asked for the long horizontal band across the top of the frontage to be broken up, so the building would better reflect the rhythm of the wider retail parade. Updated drawings introduced joints in the cladding band to create that variation. Urban Design subsequently raised no objection to the amended design.

The planning assessment recorded no objections concerning parking or the proposed travel arrangements for customers visiting the expanded store. The approval allows the scheme to proceed subject to its conditions, including the requirement for council sign-off of the construction plan before building work starts.

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