Project
The Cleveland Centre in Middlesbrough is one of 4 shopping centres in the town and wanted to ensure it remained the primary shopping destination in Middlesbrough.
Approach
We produced a range of initiatives to ensure the shopping centre retains its primary position.
A number of these focused on improving accessibility. The Cleveland Centre is an advocate of the ‘We Are Purple’ campaign, which helps to ensure both staff and properties are ‘disability confident’, so initiatives included changing the colour of rails and flooring and undertaking minor works to smooth floor areas. We then introduced ‘Quiet Sundays’ where the mall and shop music and hand dryers are switched off; these intrusive noises can cause anxiety amongst shoppers with autistic spectrum and other disabilities.
The Cleveland Centre is the primary sponsor of the town Christmas Switch on as well as the 5km Brownlee Run.
The Cleveland Centre has strong connections with Middlesbrough Football Club and is a lead partner of Roarys Class Act which is a programme to encourage primary school attendance across Teesside.
Cleveland's Kid Club was set up three years ago and runs once a month on a Saturday to encourage families to visit the Centre and take part in all sorts of craft and entertainment activities.
Membership and loyalty programmes are in place to promote return visits and further strengthens the Centre's Community engagement.
Results
This initiative has primarily focused on raising the profile of The Cleveland Centre to the dominant shopping destination in the town.
"Choice, Community, Committed" is the adopted strapline for The Cleveland Centre which is used to promote Community Engagement and ensures that The Cleveland Centre is the first Centre that the Council approach to coordinate with town events.
