The firm behind Norwich's Chapelfield yesterday said it was taking its time to find the right person to run the shopping centre after the departure of its general manager in March.

Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) - which operates 13 shopping centres around the country, including Lakeside at Thurrock, Gateshead's Metrocentre and Manchester's Arndale centre - said Chapelfield's former general manager Steve Bunce was a "hard act to follow".

CSC also said it expected to fill the five vacant units at Chapelfield, which has 105 shops, cafes and restaurants, in the coming months.

It is understood there is interest in all five units, although it was unclear last night which retailers were being lined up.

Mr Bunce was appointed general manager in August 2004, a year before the £275m project to convert the old Nestle factory into a shopping centre was finished.

He left in March to take a senior post at a multi-million pound shopping centre in Kuwait.

An advert for the Chapelfield general manager's job has appeared on the website of Harvey Nash, a national recruitment agency, saying the post attracts a "competitive salary plus benefits plus bonus" but candidates must have "proven substantial and successful multi-site experience".

Last night Trevor Pereira, commercial director of CSC said: "When Steve Bunce left Chapelfield in March we always knew he would be a hard act to follow and, as this post is such a key position, we are taking time to find the right person for the role. We are looking for someone who can build on the work done to date and take Chapelfield forward, as well as putting Norwich on the map as a great place to shop."

Marketing manager Sophie Hallett has left Chapelfield to take up the same post at the Lakeside shopping centre. Marketing manager Sheridan Smith will be back at Chapelfield in July after a secondment to Lakeside.

Courtesy of EDP