shoppers, though tall trucks can sometimes be seen from the arcades as they pass at high level. The internal landscaping was very lavish with 47 plant beds with large plants and trees; temperate in the northerly arcade and semi-tropical in the southerly one. The planters were finished in the same travertine as the floor, but approximately one third of these have been removed since the building was opened, with consequent loss of both planting and seating for shoppers, to accommodate market barrows and stalls. There are two large public areas, intended as civic open spaces, one indoors and one open air. The open-air garden square (Queen's Court) lies between Midsummer Arcade and Silbury Arcade, just west of mid-point, which has been redesigned away from its original concept as a relaxation space for visitors. The indoor space (Middleton Hall) is 1,800-square-metre exhibition space near the east end. During 2010, Middleton Hall was used as a temporary home venue for the Milton Keynes Lions basketball team, housing a 1,200-seat arena. In a central space outside the shopping building (but contained by it on three sides) is an open-air market, much of it under Secklow Gate (a flyover that gives first-floor service access to the shops' loading bays, as well as a useful North-South route). Extensions In 1993, the building was extended at the western end, over much of what had been City Square to the even greater length of 720 meters. In architectural style this extension is similar to the original, though the join can be detected internally by the low ceilings and dark corridors in the extension, quite unlike the handsome arcades of the original phase. Following extension this was documented in the 1997 Guinness Book of Records to contain the longest shopping mall in the world. Midsummer Place Midsummer Place is effectively a southwards extension of the centre but is owned and operated independently. (It was a planning requirement that it should not physically attach to the original building, so there is an approximately one metre gap between them). Midsummer Place was designed by GMW Architects of London and opened in 2000. This extension is built across (and thus closing) Midsummer Boulevard using a (covered and enclosed) plaza that contains some demountable kiosks: it is a further planning requirement that the Boulevard should technically be capable of being reopened (remain free of structures) at some future date. The new centre