WHEN Southampton was left devastated by German bombers during the Second World War, civic leaders knew it would take years to restore its former glory.

Today, after a 60-year wait, the opening of WestQuay sees the crowning moment of the city's rise from the rubble.

The event is the culmination of more than a decade of twists and turns, setbacks and happy coincidences.

The idea of creating the region's premier shopping centre dates back to the mid-1980s, arising from the threat of out-of-town stores and the devastating prospect that John Lewis might quit the city and move its Tyrrell & Green branch to Hedge End or even Fareham.

The knock-on effect of such a major retailer abandoning Southampton could have sounded the death knell for a thriving city. Councillor John Arnold, head of city development, recalled: "That was really worrying for us and so a plan was drawn up for a shopping centre.

"It was for a roof over the northern part of Above Bar and the Guildhall Square.

"That first plan came to grief because, even at the height of the 1980s property boom, the costs did not match the value of making it worthwhile.

"We were then left with a pretty grim prospect for the city centre's future."

With the decision by Pirelli to cut operations at its Southampton cable works, the door opened at the start of the 1990s for a shopping centre development.

Mr Arnold told the Daily Echo: "It left this ghastly-looking, empty building, and we took the decision that we would look at that site."

Changes were made to the local plan, and the former cable works that had been earmarked for industrial use became retail land.

Developer Imry arrived on the scene, but its proposals for the Pirelli site hit a snag over how the new centre would be linked to the existing shopping zone at Above Bar.

Mr Arnold said there were concerns that the new mall would become a competitor rather than a support to the current stores.

He said that Imry struggled to raise the cash required, and so the scheme was split into phases, the first being the building of West Quay Retail Park.

After the city council bought out Pirelli's long-term lease on its empty factory with money raised through the retail park development, the Daily Echo announced its move from Above Bar to Nursling on the edge of the city.

Mr Arnold said: "It appeared at the time to be a disaster, but that turned out to be the saving of the project because the developers bought the Daily Echo site, which provided the link between Above Bar and the Pirelli site.

"All the objections expressed by the property and retail world evaporated."

Outline planning permission for WestQuay was granted in the summer of 1995 and by September 1997 work was under way to demolish the existing buildings, under the leadership of the new developer, Hammerson.

At the height of construction work, 25,000 tonnes of concrete a month were being laid and 1,200 employees were on site.

A total of 437,000 bricks were used and as many as 13 tower cranes were being operated at one point.

The 20m support structure from the two-storey link over Portland Terrace weighs 400 tonnes.

About 15,000 cubic metres of crushed concrete from the demolition site were recycled for use on the development while 120,000 tonnes of evacuated material were removed. Rubble was taken to tips 50 miles away, involving 5,040 lorry loads.

The roof lights in WestQuay extend to about 350m in length and there are 32 lifts throughout the development.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.