For a city whose prosperity was built on the Clyde, Glasgow has, in recent years, failed dismally to exploit its waterfront. While other cities throughout Britain and Europe have forged ahead with imaginative development schemes, the Clydeside has been largely neglected.

The backers of the huge Braehead retail development on the western side of the city aim to correct this situation.

They intend to eventually transform 1.2 miles of waterfront into a showpiece retail and leisure venture. Development of the first phase alone is costing #285m.

In addition to leading high street names to attract shoppers, Braehead also hopes to entice visitors to the site with a #3m maritime museum, which will present the story of the Clyde using virtual reality technology, recounting the river's history of trade and shipbuilding.

The strategy is to develop an environment which will persuade people to stay, and so create something approaching family loyalty. The centre will be open for 12 hours each day from 10am until 10pm, with trolley buses ferrying people the length of the completed development.

A condition for planning approval in the first place was that developers Capital Shopping Centres build a 4000-seat arena which can be converted into an ice-rink. That has now been extended to include curling rinks and a free-form skating area.

The scheme is underpinned by Marks & Spencer and SavaCentre for the 600,000sq ft shopping development on two levels. There will be about 100 shops under cover and the take-up so far has been encouraging, with 92% of space already spoken for. Other major tenants will include BhS and C&A.

According to analyst John Tunstall at ABN Hoare Govett, it had not been appreciated how large the operation was or that CSC had been buying additional land. As a result, car parking will not be an issue, and the site will also be accessible for public transport, being not much more than 10 minutes from Glasgow city centre.

Tunstall added that with Sainsbury and SavaCentre at opposite ends of the development it was not surprising that so many retailers are already committed.

A secondary 250,000sq ft development aimed at furniture and carpet retailers will be rented out to 14 operators.

The reason why CSC is so keen to become involved is explained by the statistics demonstrating that within 20 minutes drive of the site live 1.24 million people with a total estimated retail spend of #2764m - #250m greater than the equivalent for CSC's pride and joy, the Lakeside shopping centre at Thurrock in Essex.

General manager Bob Baldry said that Braehead will also include 100,000sq ft of office space.

Purchasing additional land in the area has resulted in CSC being able to provide dedicated roads, and talks are under way with Railtrack on possibly constructing a rail link.

There is car parking for 6500 vehicles which will be controlled by allocating drivers a space as they enter rather leaving them to hunt for a vacant spot.

CSC's chief executive, Glaswegian Douglas Leslie, is planning a low key opening, probably in August 1999.

He is determined not to repeat the experience of the MetroCentre at Newcastle, which opened with huge ceremony but was so busy that people were unable to gain access and have never returned.

CSC currently owns 80 acres of land at the Braehead and is in talks with United Distillers to buy more. It has plans to build a 100-bedroom hotel adjacent to the A8 and close to junction 26 of the M8.

The entire scheme has been a long time in gestation. It started as a means of regenerating a seemingly almost hopeless area as a joint venture between the Clyde Port Authority and the Tarmac construction group as far back as 1986. Four years, the Secretary of State gave his outline permission. Then at the end of 1992, the site was bought by Marks & Spencer and the SavaCentre subsidiary of J Sainsbury.

CSC was brought in at the beginning of 1995 by the two retailers who had been impressed with the company's success with developments such as the MetroCentre and Lakeside. The latter has helped revitalise the local community by creating new jobs. CSC expects that Braehead will employ 3000 people on a permanent basis and put an estimated #85m annually into the local economy.

Shorter term, there is a similar number of workers involved in the construction, involving 62 sub-contractors.

Leslie talks of a 15-year programme to develop the long-term potential, and so it seems the builders will be around for a long time.

A further 1700 people have already been signed up through the Govan Initiative as prospective employees.

Analysts reckon that when the current phase one development is completed, Braehead would have an open market value of around #430m, throwing up a capital profit of #145m on the construction cost.

With planning restrictions becoming ever more difficult to obtain, Braehead promises to be one of the last developments of its type to be built.