THE owners of Poole’s Dolphin Shopping Centre say they are laying plans to regenerate the site.

Legal and General Property bought Dorset’s largest shopping centre for £57.7m last year.

It recently received planning permission for work on the large external signs at the centre’s entrance and says installation will begin shortly, in the hope of finishing by the end of summer.

Revamped branding has been rolled out in recent months and new internal signage has been introduced.

Legal and General bought the centre in February 2013 from Dutch firm Wereldhave, which had planned a £6.5m facelift due to get underway that year.

No news has been released about that scheme, but L&G says it has “already begun making future plans to regenerate Dorset’s largest indoor shopping centre”.

The new signage includes the new branding and is designed to be environmentally sustainable. The new LED signs will provide a 68 per cent saving on energy usage compared with the original 5ft, 58 watt tube-lit signs.

John Grinnell, centre manager of the Dolphin Shopping Centre, said: “As a large shopping destination in the hub of Poole’s town centre we are continually committed to improving the centre’s environmental performance and to identify where changes can be made to control the environmental impact of its activities.

“The new branding and signs are a welcome addition to the centre and we look forward to L&G’s future plans.”

The centre’s management team has been asked to identify opportunities to save energy and improve its environmental performance.

The centre covers 430,000sqft over three floors, with big name tenants including Marks and Spencer, Primark, Boots, BHS and Beales.