The Challenge Sutton Coldfield Mall in Birmingham, was originally built in 1974 as The Gracechurch Shopping Centre. Given its age and the changing trends in retail design and development, there have been several improvement projects at Gracechurch over the years. Most recently a project began to “breath new life” into the centre’s facilities by removing and replacing canopy structures that had come to the end of their lifespan. With the requirement for more light transmission, Fabric Architecture chose a Japanese fabric that was never before used in the UK. This type III fabric allows 30% light transmission which floods the area with natural light and means less artificial lighting is needed. The few lights that are under the canopy are only required at night and these lights are integrate

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