More commercial property development is in store for West London, after property developer Westfield unveiled plans for a £1bn extension to its eponymous West London shopping centre. They include provision for residential and commercial property, creating 500,000 sq ft of retail space, 1,700 new homes and an expected 2,500 new permanent jobs. The expansion will incorporate a department store, with many reports suggesting UK retailer John Lewis may be a potential occupier. A pedestrianised walkway will connect the project in White City with the existing shopping centre and provide access to Shepherds Bush town centre. A new street will be built on the north site, which currently consists of access roads, service yards and other existing commercial property. The proposal has been put forward for consultation in the local community, which will take place over a three-day period next month.
Westfield’s parent company, the Westfield Group, is the largest retail property group by equity market capitalisation in the world. This Australian organisation owns shopping centres in New Zealand, the United States, the UK and across Australia. It came to prominence in the UK with the 2008 opening of the Shepherds Bush centre and intends to build on its acknowledged success with Westfield Stratford, in East London, due to open in September this year.
West London has been the site of much commercial property activity already this year. Development Securities, the UK property investor and developer, has had its £250m Hammersmith Grove scheme, incorporating 275,000 sq ft of office space, approved by Hammersmith and Fulham Council. Now White City seems set to receive similar regeneration. The area has been designated an ‘Opportunity Area’, where underused land is earmarked for development and job creation. The Westfield extension has been tailored to fit the criteria and has been heralded by a Westfield developer as ‘an exciting new chapter for the area’, which ‘will continue the regeneration of the area that is already under way’.
