£11 MILLION SPRINGFIELDS RETAIL AND LEISURE EXPANSION ON TRACK
Hotel and new mall nearing completion
The multi-million pound expansion of Springfields Outlet Shopping and Festival Gardens in Spalding is still on course for a summer completion with news that work is about to begin on joining up the new mall with the existing shopping area.
Springfields owner UBS Triton Property Fund is spending £11 million to enhance the centre, including new retail stores, a 43-room feature hotel and new gardens attractions all set to open in July 2008. More than 100 jobs will be created once the work is complete.
Hoardings are set to go up any day now in front of the old Marks and Spencer store to make way for the breakthrough of the new mall. There will be over 12 new stores sited in this new shopping area, which has been under construction since October 2007. Marks and Spencer remains at Springfields, taking a larger unit to enable it to display the full range of its outlet products.
The first floor of the hotel, which will be a Travelodge, has now been completed. Suites and bathrooms arrived as modules that fit together much easier and quicker compared to a standard hotel build.
Main contractor Interserve has used approximately 500m3 of concrete on the extension to create a new ground floor area and first floor transfer deck. The bricks and blocks needed for the extension total about 3,500m2, and more than 165 tonnes of steel has been used. More than 30 different types of tradesmen have been hard at work to meet to the completion deadline.
Springfields attracts almost two million visitors each year and the expansion is set to encourage even more people to visit Spalding – providing a solid boost for the local economy. Springfields is also providing another £300,000 S106 contribution for town centre improvements.
Ian Sanderson, Director of Chester Properties, which manages the scheme for Springfields owners UBS, said:“Demand for space is always high at Springfields, and this significant expansion will help us to continue to enhance the shopping experience for visitors and maintain Springfields as a must-visit shopping and leisure destination.
“This expansion will create well over 100 extra jobs and help attract more and more visitors from further afield to Springfields and Spalding in general. Once complete, the expansion will be a real boost for the local economy and be a real draw for people across East Anglia and the East Midlands.
“We are nearing the end of negotiations with a number of exciting new tenants. So far these names have been kept tightly under wraps but we are very close to being able to announce which high quality national retailers will be coming to Springfields.”
In addition to the shops at Springfields are the Festival Gardens, which provide a unique attraction for families with its spectacular celebrity showcase gardens designed by expert horticulturalists such as Charlie Dimmock and Kim Wilde.
It also boasts the superb Festival Garden Centre, children’s entertainment including the PlayBarn and adventure golf course, plus an educational interactive history of the Fens at the Fenscape Centre.
