HIGHWOODS shopping centre changed the face of retail in the town.

More than 36 years on, we look back the rise of the area with the help of these archived images.

At its centre was the Tesco store, with the Highwoods housing and shopping area around it.

Gazette: Colchester Mayor Richard Browning unveils the commemorative granite stone

Colchester Mayor Richard Browning unveils the commemorative granite stone

These photographs show the scheme as it reached its conclusion with the construction work and grand opening in the autumn of 1981.

But the foundations for it began in 1978, when the scheme for the development was conceived.

After going through a public inquiry, government and local authority consultations, the £2 million superstore’s doors opened to eager shoppers for the first time in November of 1981.

Gazette: Construction work - underway at what would become Highwoods Tesco, in summer 1981

Construction work - underway at what would become Highwoods Tesco, in summer 1981

The 200-acre site was developed by French Kier, which simultaneously began to market the first of its new homes.

It included 55,000 sq ft of development, 30,000 of which was destined for shopping and 550 car parking spaces.

There were also plans for petrol stations, a bank and two shops to support the infrastructure of the new housing which was to appear alongside it.

Gazette: dedication stone at Highwoods shoping centre when it was launched in 1981.

The dedication stone at Highwoods shoping centre when it was launched in 1981

Whe it was completed the Mayor of Colchester at that time, Richard Browning, unveiled a commemorative two and a half ton granite stone.

This had been designed by Colchester architect Stanley Bragg to mark the very special occasion.

A £7 million extension was opened five years later in 1986 after a three-day closure for final re-fitting.

And as the building of the new homes on the estate continued, business increased at its shopping centrepiece, which had already financed the building of the local community centre.

When the store opened in 1981, a jar of Nescafe instant coffee cost 87p and many prices still included the halfpenny.

Elsewhere in the world there were a number of technological advances including the first flight of the space shuttle in Colombia.

This was also the year the Internet first appeared and Prince Charles married Lady Diana.