Building Design Northern (BDN) has been named as lead architects and engineers on a multi-million pound retail project for the UK’s leading home improvement retailer.

The practice has been appointed by B&Q to develop plans for a new 20,000 square-foot store at the Borders Gateway development in the Scottish village of Tweedbank.

With B&Q committed to having a store in the area, the new Tweedbank store would replace its current store in Low Buckholmside. Alongside the wide range of products, the proposed store would allow local customers access to a variety of departments including a kitchen and bathroom showroom, tools and hardware, paint and décor and garden centre as well as B&Q’s dedicated trade membership scheme, Tradepoint.

The store would also offer a wide range of services including click and collect, a paint mixing service, timber cutting and more. There would also be dedicated van parking for both trade and retail customers, alongside EV charging points.

34 years on from designing and managing the fit out of B&Q’s existing Galashiels store, the Sunderland and Ulverston-based practice has been re-appointed by B&Q’s owner, Kingfisher plc, to support this major retail project in Tweedbank and the submission of the planning application to the Scottish Borders Council for this new 20,000 square-foot store.

In the 30 years since 1989, BDN has worked with B&Q as Fit Out Project Manager at over 100 new stores, and over 150 refurbished stores.

Senior Architectural Project Manager at BDN, Gary Ward, said: “We are delighted to be continuing our strong working relationship with B&Q to deliver an exciting new store in the Scottish borders.

“The development of the current Galashiels store marked the first fit out project I managed whilst working for Building Design Northern, so to be appointed 34 years later to relocate B&Qs Galashiels store is a key milestone in BDN’s success.”

“With the planning application submitted, BDN is working collaboratively with the B&Q team to utilise our design excellence to scale up its retail operations.”

As part of B&Q’s commitment to sustainability, if the proposals are approved, the new Tweedbank store would include no gas supply,  being solely electrically heated to enable a more sustainably run store through a reduction in gas emissions. The new store plans also include insulation products made of rock and mineral fibre.

To find out more about B&Q, visit B&Q Corporate | B&Q (diy.com). To find out more about BDN, visit bdnltd.com.