Bethlehem Shopping Centre has been developed as a new neighbourhood retail centre. The development of the centre will meet the needs and desires of the catchment and provide a sense of place within the local community for its customers. The Centre has been designed as a new outdoor focused retail centre with a strong sense of place and community ownership.

The shopping centre is broken up into a series of blocks or precincts determined by retail usage. The historical activities of the rural agrarian environment have played an important role to drive the design process for this centre. The rural agrarian theme combined with strong connections to the New Zealand building vernacular, provided the architectural idea for the centre of ‘The Elegant Shed’.

The square, wide footpaths, landscaping, continuous canopies and mix of tenancies combine to create an environment which is more than just an amenity for visitors to the centre, it becomes a destination for present and future generations. The building forms use a combination of simple clean materials such as corrugated zincalume, finished precast concrete and timber slat wall claddings which reflect the local vernacular and provide a sense of identity within the site and the geographical region of Bethlehem, Tauranga.