| Activity | As part of the Master Plan, and plan Lothian Regional Development plan, which together set the shape, structure and purpose of Livingston New Town, a regional shopping centre was envisaged as a way to boost employment in the Lothians region. Following protracted negotiations in the 1960s, the Scottish Development Department finally rejected the idea that the Livingston Development Corporation should fund the retail elements of the town centre development in 1971. As a result the project was set out to tender in 1972. Ravenseft Properties won the bid with a plan that would create one of the largest indoor centres in the UK. The shopping centre was also to include Scotland's largest superstore, Woolco. Almondvale Shopping Centre was opened in the autumn of 1977, with 320,000 sq ft of retail space available.
As early as 1979 plans were explored to create Almondvale Phase II, but difficulties in funding, and proposed shopping centres in Bathgate and on the suburbs of Edinburgh delayed the expansion of the shopping centre until the 1990s. Ravenseft, renamed Land Securities, and owners of Phase I, agreed to fund Phase II developments by Amec and the Safeway group. Phase II was opened on the 17th August 1996 and contained three department stores and an additional 41 shop units. Phase III was completed in 2008. As of 2012 retail space at The Centre is now over 1 million sq ft. |