First phase of massive project well under way at Bournemouth shopping park

With the busy festive season approaching, bosses at the centre are doing their best to minimise disruption for shoppers.

• Restaurant chain shuts doors at its Castlepoint restaurant for good

One end of the car park, near the Sainsbury’s supermarket, has been taken down in stages since work began at the site in June.

Construction experts are now ready to rebuild it.

It is estimated that the first phase of the massive project will take around nine months to complete.

It will be followed by a further five stages which will take roughly nine months each.

The rebuild has been planned carefully to ensure all shops remain open throughout the works and that there is easy access for customers.

Steps have also been taken to ensure there are plenty of parking spaces.

The car park had 2,818 spaces before work started and the Castlepoint Partnership has promised the number will not fall below 2,500 while the work is under way.

When the project is finished, there will be around 3,000 spaces.

Structural problems were first reported at the car park in 2003, shortly after it was built. It was reported that pieces of concrete were falling on to vehicles.

In December 2005 the car park was closed without warning, leading to chaos in the run-up to Christmas. Cracks in the concrete had been identified.

It finally-re-opened in mid-January 2006.

Legal wrangles took place for many years before planning permission to rebuild the car park was granted in 2014.

Work was then planned to start in 2015.

Since then “enabling” works have been carried out but shoppers have only seen real progress in the last few months.

The centre has recently seen the opening of a new toy shop, The Entertainer.

But restaurant chain Frankie & Benny’s closed the doors of its Castlepoint eatery on Sunday.

Castlepoint bosses have stressed the car park is safe to use during the reconstruction period and said it will remain free of charge once work is complete.

They said a number of measures have been taken to minimise disruption.

They include an on-site information point and car park marshals who will be in place when required to ensure car circulation around the car park is as smooth as possible.

Temporary car parking spaces have been created and there is additional signage to direct shoppers.

During peak periods there will be 24-hour security and on-site management and the phased approach to works means that only certain stores and areas of the car park are affected at any one time.

The phases will make their way around the centre, ending at the end near B&Q.

A spokesman for the Castlepoint Partnership said: ““As well as the reconstruction of the existing car park, the works will significantly enhance customer parking at Castlepoint with improved lighting, and a cleaner, airier environment.”