The giant multiple Tesco is likely to be the anchor tenant in a large retail development which will link in to Eyre Square Shopping Centre in Galway. Work is to begin later this month on the £22 million Edward Square project which will include 85,000 sq ft of retail space, 3,700 sq ft of offices and a number of apartments. The complex will be based mainly on Corbetts Yard, and will be a further link between the shopping centre and the high street.

Although reports are circulating that Marks and Spencer may occupy the anchor store, Tesco are understood to be determined to gain this city centre foothold. It already operates a large supermarket at Galway Shopping Centre, on the outskirts of the city. The developers are likely to get a rent of £600,000/£700,000 for the 60,000 sq ft anchor store. With the supermarket element capped at 32,000 sq ft by the planners, the new traders will probably use the remaining space as a department store. Super Valu operates a supermarket of 22,000 sq ft in the Eyre Square shopping centre.

The letting agent, Edmund Douglas, of Douglas Newman Good, is shortly to launch a marketing campaign for the new centre which will have 10 other stores. The new facilities will be completed before Christmas of next year. Construction work is to be carried out by P.J. Hegarty and it is estimated that 300 new jobs will be created when the centre opens. The design by architects Douglas Wallace provides for the retention of the remains of the 17th century Cromwellian demi-bastion, the only remaining archaeological evidence of the Cromwellian presence inside the walls of Galway.

The Edward Square project is being undertaken by Mr Gerard Barrett, who developed Mount Kenneth in Limerick, a large scheme which included offices and the new Jurys Inn. He was also joint developer of the award-winning scheme at Kirwan's Lane, Galway.