WESTFIELD
November 2009

Complementing the existing offer in the West End and other areas of the city, Westfield London offers a unique experience with the best of the high street combined with luxury designer labels. It also boasts more than 50 places to eat and from February 2010 will be home to the country’s first all-digital cinema when the state-of-the-art, 14-screen Vue multiplex opens.

The development represents a £1.7bn investment into Shepherd’s Bush and the surrounding area. As part of the project, Westfield invested nearly £200M into improved infrastructure including new and redeveloped tube and overground stations, new bus interchange as well as road and cycle improvements. The general area has seen an uplift in footfall as a result of the centre and long-term, the group hopes that this project will act as a catalyst for further inward investment in the area.

“Shoppers are voting with their feet and we successfully surpassed our initial expectation of 20 million visitors in the first year weeks ahead of the anniversary,” says Michael Gutman, Managing Director of Westfield Shoppingtowns Ltd. “We now expect to hit around 22 million for the first year, which is a testament to the quality of the centre we have delivered.”

Anecdotal feedback from both shoppers and retailers is extremely positive, with many Westfield London stores performing in the top quartile of their portfolio. Its success is evident in the fact that some retailers are opening a second store to widen their offer within the centre.

The group continues to invest in pre-development activities, however in the current operating environment and economic climate, it does not expect to commence any new major developments; its focus now firmly on Stratford, with pre-development work continuing on other projects in the pipeline including Nottingham
and Bradford.

Westfield Stratford City represents a £1.45bn investment. At 1.9 million square feet of retail, the scheme is slightly larger than Westfield London and will become Europe’s largest urban shopping mall when it opens in 2011.

The scheme includes a 240,000sq ft John Lewis, a 200,000sq ft Marks & Spencer and a 32,000sq ft Waitrose, as well as a 12-screen, all-digital Vue cinema and around 300 stores within the main mall.

Of course, the centre has a key part to play in the success of London 2012, but what role is it expected to play in the area’s post-Olympic long-term regeneration?
“The Olympics represents an unprecedented opportunity for retailers within the scheme. In the run-up to and during the Games,” says Gutman, “which will take place within the critical first year of trading.

“However, Westfield Stratford City, like all of our developments, is based on long-term fundamentals. The community will inherit the benefits from billions of pounds of investment both from our project and from surrounding projects including the Olympic Park and the Village which will provide much needed sustainable regeneration for the area.”

When fully built out, Westfield Stratford City will create retail, leisure, offices, homes and new public realm for the local community to benefit from for generations to come. The long-term regeneration of the area will flow from the inward investment being made and the new jobs created as a result.

www.westfield.com/stratfordcity
For the full article please see the RLI November 2009 issue

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