A STRIKING sheet of curved glass has been carefully lifted onto Westgate to shelter future shoppers.

Building work continues to progress at the Westgate Centre site in Oxford, which is set to open on October 24.

Pictures taken by the Oxford Mail this week show the roof will be partly open to the elements, allowing visitors to breathe in fresh air as they peruse shop windows.

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said: “The roof is designed in such a way that there will be a good natural circulation of air.

“It will keep everything dry but it won’t make people feel as though they are in some kind of overheated place.”

Part of the centre will have a ‘normal’ roof but much will be sheltered by the glass, which arcs between rows of shops like a bridge.

Some sides are elevated above the top edges of the buildings to allow the natural air through.

Similar part open-air designs are already in place at intu Milton Keynes shopping centre and Trinity Shopping Centre in Leeds.

Mr Price said the Westgate design was inspired by the latter, and said it should make evening entertainment even more effective.

He said: “It’s very exciting to see it all developing. It gets more attractive every time I go past”

The councillor noted that the restaurant at John Lewis, the centre’s anchor store, has also been completed.

Other restaurant units are set to be finished shortly.

Earlier this week 10 more brands revealed they would be taking units at Westgate, including Cath Kidston and Nando’s chicken restaurant.

Proposals for the £440m centre have been developed by the Westgate Oxford Alliance; a joint venture between Land Securities and The Crown Estate.

The Oxford Mail asked for more details about the roof but received no response.