The Howard Centre has applied to move its management offices to make room for more retail space

PLANS to move the head office at the Howard Centre, in order to create space for more retail units, have been submitted to Welwyn Hatfield Council.

An application to erect an infill on the first floor of the WGC shopping centre to create a new management suite was received by the council last week.

If it is successful, the management suite will move from its current location, next to the entrance to WGC rail station, and over to a small unit next to the Howard Centre car park entrance.

The move would open up more space on the first floor of the centre, incorporating the former site of Morelli’s cafe, in the hope of attracting more big name retailers to the town.

Howard Centre manager Peter Brooke said: “The reason we’re looking to move the offices is so we can create more retail space.

“It’s an attractive proposition. The reason we’ve had problems getting multi-retailers into the centre is because most of them want a bigger unit than what we can offer. Moving the offices is an opportunity to create that.”

Mr Brooke would not go into detail about what retailers had expressed an interest in opening a store at the centre.

“We get a lot of enquiries from many retailers,” he said.