TRCB Expertise: Retail Design Lead Finnbar Ingram on designing world-class outlet malls

Jul 4

Finnbar Ingram (left) and Graham Taylor on a site visit during construction of DFO Perth, May 2018 (Image credit: TRCB)

4 July 2023

Outlet shopping centres have long been a unique component of the retail market.

Over the years, I have visited outlet retail centres around the world – from San Diego, Buffalo and Hawaii in the USA to South-East Asian centres like Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA (Sepang, Malaysia), and from McArthur Glen malls in the UK to high-quality open-air centres such as The Mall (Florence, Italy) and Bicester Village (Oxford, England).

While outlet malls vary in nature depending on their local context, the form has clearly evolved into a distinct and popular retail category, cited in recent years as the fastest growing in the sector. They are also proving particularly successful at airport locations.

As a senior architect with TRCB’s experienced retail design team, I have had the opportunity to work on some of the world’s most exciting purpose-built outlet shopping centres, including right here in Perth.

In 2016, Vicinity Centres, in a joint venture with Perth Airport, engaged our team to design Western Australia’s first DFO outlet centre. The resulting retail hub now stands as one of Perth’s premier shopping destinations – a landmark 33,000m² building on a prominent site, with more than 100 fashion tenancies, a 400-seat casual dining area and multiple external spaces.

Our team’s AIA-recognised design drew inspiration from ideas of flight, which can be traced in the sweeping lines of the building’s external canopy forms as well as the layered, exposed structure of the interior concourse. To realise these design intentions, we worked with the structural engineers at BG&E to deliver a locally fabricated, lightweight steel structure that reinforced the flight theme, in this instance flight in nature, with steel trusses that resemble skeletal wings.

DFO Perth was a brilliantly collaborative and enjoyable project. The entire team – from the client group to the consultants, contractor and subcontractors – all ‘bought in’ to our vision for the project, with outstanding results.

As is typical for this type of project, TRCB acted as facilitator between the Vicinity leasing team and builders Georgiou during the Design & Construct (D&C) contract. Our retail design team excels in this contracting method, promoting a nimble, open and communicative approach during construction.

Across the ditch, our retail design team is working with Eclipse Architecture to deliver Auckland Airport’s new $200 million outlet centre, Mānawa Bay Premium Outlets.

The project moved into the construction phase late last year, with the centre set to be the first Five Green Star retail centre in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sustainability is a key focus of the innovative design for the centre, which will feature the country’s largest rooftop solar array on the 35,000m² building and zero natural or LPG gas on site.

Our architectural design for Mānawa Bay looks to offer a contemporary shopping experience for locals and travellers across almost 25,000m² of retail space and more than 100 stores. The design makes the most of the centre’s striking park-like setting, with large windows maximising water views and bringing in natural light and northern sun.

A highlight of my latest site visit in Auckland was to reacquaint myself with the sheer scale of the structure of these centres, which never ceases to amaze me. The size of the steel beams required to support two clear 53-metre spans is impressive, not just in their overall depth but also in the thickness of the connection plates – they are certainly dealing with some significant forces. A key benefit of these large spans is the flexibility they offer for tenancy planning.

Size aside, it was also pleasing to see some of the finer details starting to appear, with the mangrove-patterned concrete panels receiving a light grind to reveal the local stones included in the mix.

Planned to open in late 2024, Mānawa Bay will transform New Zealand’s outlet shopping and is set to become one of the leading outlet centres in Australasia.

These are exciting times for TRCB’s retail design team as we explore and evolve what it means to design sustainable and memorable outlet malls, in Australia and beyond.