Female retail plot for Covent Garden

London’s Covent Garden is to gain a major new retail development, with branding, wayfinding, brochures, websites and hoardings by Module Media.

St Martin’s Courtyard, loca ted just off Long Acre, London WC2, is to be strongly targeted at women. The 1ha site will house 25 retail units totalling 6000m2, as well as restaurants, bars and spas spanning a further 2800m2.

It will also contain 33 residential apartments and 6800m2 of office space. Shaftesbury, which developed and owns Carnaby Street and Seven Dials, also in London’s West End, appointed Module to create a name and visual identity  for the new shop ping destination in February.

The property developer ran a four-way unpaid creative pitch, inviting Module to compete on the recommendation of Shaftesbury’s long-term marketing partner, Sister PR.

‘Fairly early on we decided that there would be a female slant to the retail and leisure development, since we feel that there is a gap in the market for a destination specifically aimed at women. So that was at the forefont of our brief,’ says Shaftesbury property director Simon Quayle.

‘The wayfinding will probably not be as in-your-face as on Carnaby Street, but because we are opening up a private piece of land linking Covent Garden, Seven Dials and Long Acre, it will need to be clear and instructive,’ Quayle adds.

Shaftesbury is seeking to attract new fashion brands from overseas, as well as smaller boutiques.

Module is currently working on a brochure for the project, as well as a website detailing the plans for the development. It has commissioned Nellie Ryan to create illustrations for the second-phase hoardings and brochures.

‘We didn’t want the brochures to look corporate, or the hoardings to give the impression of a shopping centre, so we are opting to use an illustrator instead of going for CGI images,’ explains a Shaftesbury spokeswoman. ‘CGI is commonly used for developments such as this, but we felt it is not stylish or imaginative enough for this site.’

Module’s next step is to design a customer brochure and possibly a customer website, both of which would launch at the start of 2009.

‘We are also trying to think up some names for the three main entrances to the development,’ says Module creative director Andy Walker, adding that wayfinding will be tackled next year.

SCHEDULE FOR ST MARTIN’S COURTYARD

March 2008 – Module names and creates an identity for St Martin’s Courtyard

April-May 2008 – Module begins work on phase one and phase two hoardings for develop ment site. Appoints illustrator Nellie Ryan; starts work on development website and brochure

July 2008 – Phase one complete, providing three retail units fronting Long Acre

From January 2009 – Module to tackle wayfinding design, as well as customer brochure and website

November 2009 – St Martin’s Courtyard opens