AMERICAN MADE AWNINGS

The City Square is a pedestrian plaza located in the Central Business District of Melbourne, Australia. The square is currently bounded by Swanston Street, Collins Street, Flinders Lane and the Westin Hotel. Melbourne Town Hall (1870) and St Paul’s Cathedral (1891) are prominent landmarks to the north and south respectively. The square has been redeveloped several times and associated with a number of controversies over the years.
In 1976, an architectural competition was launched by Melbourne City Council to design a permanent square which was won by Denton Corker Marshall architects. The design, responding to the complex brief, included a giant video screen, restaurants, shops and outdoor cafes, connected by a glazed canopy, a sunken amphitheatre, graffiti wall, reflecting pool, water wall and cascades as well as the open area of the main square. The area was extensively paved with sawn bluestone. The Burke and Wills Statue (1864) by Charles Summers was positioned (somewhat ironically) next to the cascades.

Following its opening by Queen Elizabeth II on May 28, 1980 the new square attracted criticism from the general public. The Melbourne Age newspaper reported "in interviews with newspaper reporters and on talk-back radio, many Melburnians have blasted their long awaited City Square for what they see as its bareness, the noise from its controversial video matrix screen and the starkness of the glazed steel canopy running along the Regent Theatre Wall". A large yellow steel sculpture titled “Vault” by Ron Robertson-Swann (dubbed the "Yellow Peril") which was commissioned as a centrepiece for the square was relocated to Batman Park after a few months, following heated public debate. (Source: Wikipedia)

The service industry is an important employer in the city. The city centre is one of the main shopping areas, with the pedestrianised Cruises St being one of the main shopping streets and also the recently pedestrianised Bedford Row. New on the agenda is the proposed pedestranisation of O'Connell St up to Roches St near the Oriental Foodstore and a new look for William St, the heart of Limerick City. Each side of the city has outlying shopping areas. Crescent Shopping Centre is in Dooradoyle, not far from the city centre. It has over 90 shopping outlets along with restaurants and the 12-screen Omniplex Cinema. Regular bus services run from the city centre to the Crescent Shopping Centre. The Jetland Shopping Centre is in Caherdavin. It opened in 2005. Its main anchor is Dunnes Stores, with other shops and services including Golden Discs and Costa Coffee

The Milk Market located at Cornmarket Row in the city centre sells locally produced foods and products. The market is run by the Limerick Market Trustees and is one of the oldest markets run in the country. The market is open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the Saturday market acting as the flagship and most popular market day. In 2010 work was undertaken to redevelop the existing market premises to an all – weather, all year round market facility as the market operated in an outdoor environment. The work involved constructing a large canopy over the existing market premises and was officially re-opened in June 2010.