Bluewater

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Bluewater


caption =
location = Greenhithe, Kent, England
opening_date = March 16, 1999
manager = Lend Lease Retail
developer = Lend Lease
owner = Prudential plc (35%),
Lend Lease Europe Limited (30%),
The Lend Lease Retail Partnership (25%), and
Hermes (10%) [ [http://www.bluewater.co.uk/ Bluewater | Home ] ]
architect = Eric Kuhne
number_of_stores = 330
number of catering outlets = 50
number_of_anchors = 3
floor_area = 1,675,000 ft² (155,700 m²)
floors = 2
parking = 13,000 cars, 100 coaches
website = http://www.bluewater.co.uk

Bluewater is a super-regional shopping centre, opened on 16 March 1999. It is located at Greenhithe in the borough of Dartford, near the M25 motorway in northwest Kent, England. It is owned by four major UK institutions, Prudential plc and PRUPIM (35%), Lend Lease Europe Ltd (30%), the Lend Lease Retail Partnership (25%) and Hermes (10%) [ [http://www.bluewater.co.uk/bottom-navigation/corporate Bluewater | Home ] ] .

The centre is on a 240-acre (97 ha) plot in a redundant chalk quarry. It has a sales floor area of 154,000 m² (1,600,000 ft²) in two levels, making it the second largest shopping centre in the UK with Gateshead's Metro Centre being the largest. The floor plan is a triangular shape with 330 stores, including 3 anchors, 40 cafés and restaurants, and a 13-screen cinema. The centre employs 7,000 and serves over 27 million visitors a year.

Description

The centre is the second largest (in terms of retail area) in the UK, after the MetroCentre in Gateshead, and elsewhere in Europe only Istanbul's Cevahir Mall and Vienna's (Vösendorf) Shopping City Süd are also bigger.

In 1994, Blue Circle approached Australian mall developer Lend Lease to form a partnership. Instead, Lend Lease bought the land and the project from Blue Circle, and gathered a group of major investors, which included: Prudential, Barclays Mercantile, Hermes (acting for Britel), Lloyds Leasing, and Royal Bank Leasing. Lend Lease also formed a pool of minor investors, called the Lend Lease Retail Partnership, with 18 institutions and corporations.

With the Bluewater project finally under way, it was time to sign up the tenants, beginning with the major ones. John Lewis was the first in February 1995, albeit with major concessions, such as the offer of 300,000 ft², one-fifth of the entire floor space, on three levels. Still, this gave Bluewater the credibility it needed to sign more names, including the two other anchor stores. House of Fraser was next and in June 1996 Marks & Spencer signed too. By March 1998, 90% of the retail space was committed.

Construction started on May 1, 1996. At its peak, the construction site employed 2,500 workers simultaneously. In all, 20,000 people worked 11.5 million hours on the construction of Bluewater. At the planned opening date, March 16, 1999, Bluewater was inaugurated with 99% of the shops open for business. It was built by Bovis. The total cost of construction was around GBP £400 million. [Emma Dorreen, editor/project manager; Michael Evamy, writer (1999). "Vision to Reality". London: Lend Lease. ISBN 0-9537054-0-4.] At the time of its construction, Bluewater was the largest shopping centre in Europe.

In May 2005, Bluewater introduced a code of conduct to ban swearing, clothing that obscures the face (including hoods and baseball caps), and groups of more than five without the intention to shop [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4534903.stm BBC news-Bluewater introduces code of conduct] ] [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1609342,00.html Timesonline-Bluewater introduces code of conduct] ] . This policy has divided opinion, with high-profile figures such as Tony Blair showing his support [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1609342,00.html Timesonline-Tony Blair support] ] , but has been criticised in the liberal press and those working with young people locally.

In late 2006 Dartford Borough Council granted planning permission for Bluewater to build a two-story events venue [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6210290.stm BBC news-events venue] ] of 5200 sq.m, and further extend the south side of the centre.

In culture

* Footballers Wives filmed scenes in Bluewater during Series 3, during one of which the character Amber went shopping, and fell asleep in a bed in the window of House of Fraser.
* The Bollywood film Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham was partly filmed in Bluewater.
*, an expansion pack to the popular computer game The Sims 2 contains a default shopping district dubbed "Bluewater Village".
* A 224-page coffee-table book was published by Lend Lease in 1999. It contains the full history and details prior to the opening. As of 2005 it was still available at Bluewater's Welcome Halls. The book is called Vision to Reality
* The fourth episode of the fourth series of the BBC reality television show The Apprentice featured the two teams of contestants operating photo portrait stalls within Bluewater.

References

External links

* [http://www.bluewater.co.uk Official website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4534903.stm Mall bans shoppers' hooded tops]

See also

* London Buses route 96
* London Buses route 492
* Greenhithe railway station
* Ebbsfleet International railway station