Leach Rhodes Walker have been engaged to deliver one of three phase 1 components to Muses Talbot Gateway Project in Blackpool. This is the foodstore, which is a 140,000 sq ft gross store with 600 car parking spaces. The store is a first as it is one of the first stores by the foodstore occupier which has two levels of car parking above a foodstore at ground level, rather than the usual ‘store on stilts’ solutions preferred by many occupiers. This delivers a much better solution in terms of townscape and drama. As part of the proposal the car parking has been completely hidden although it is fully naturally ventilated. The store is intended to be an ‘iconic’ first phase and this is created by a dramatic fully glazed circulation space containing the travelators/moving walks that bring shoppers from the car park to the store and onwards into the town centre.