The eagerly-awaited £33million John Lewis store at Westfield London in White City
Following the new £600million Westfield London expansion, Hammersmith & Fulham Council is working hard to ensure residents benefit from the new jobs and economic benefits.
The eagerly-awaited £33million John Lewis store was one of the first retailers to open its doors on Tuesday 20 March at the Westfield expansion.
See all the pictures from the event on our Flickr photo gallery
It signaled the start of a phased opening of the vast project, with a number of major announcements and openings taking place in the coming months ahead of Westfield’s 10th anniversary on 30 October 2018.
The Westfield extension will create an extra 740,000 sq ft of retail, dining, leisure and entertainment space in White City – making it the largest shopping centre in Europe.
It forms part of H&F Council’s drive for White City to deliver significant growth for residents, new businesses, private and social housing, jobs and infrastructure as outlined in the council’s recent Industrial Strategy.
New arrivals
John Lewis is the largest shop at the new Westfield expansion with more than 20 services alongside 1,000-plus brands in fashion, beauty, home and technology spread over four floors.
The other shops due to open in the coming months at Westfield include Chinese fashion brand Urban Revivo, Primark, Bravissimo, Frencheye, Space NK, Urban Decay and Currys PC World.
Westfield has also announced a set of exciting leisure and dining offers coming to the White City shopping centre:
- All Star Lanes - launching their new boutique bowling venue
- Ichiba - becoming Europe’s largest Japanese Food Hall
- Puttshack - the world’s first super tech indoor mini-golf experience
- FirstLight Cycle - a brand new fitness concept that will be the UK’s largest boutique cycling offering.
In addition, existing retailers, H&M, adidas, Boots, Lush, The White Company, Monsoon, Guess, UGG and Cath Kidston will all be launching new outlets within the expansion.
Tenth anniversary
The original 43-acre Westfield site cost £1.7billion to build and consisted of 265 shops and 50 restaurants when it first opened on 30 October 2008.
Ninety new shops will be added during the current Westfield expansion and 8,000 new permanent jobs are being created.
H&F Council alongside Westfield, Job Centre Plus and local colleges have worked with the local community to inform and prepare them for the jobs on offer which includes free courses recently launched in collaboration with West London College and City of Westminster College.
Designed to help people be job-ready, they allow local residents to gain an accredited retail, hospitality or catering qualification in just two weeks.
For more information on the free training and the latest vacancies, residents can contact WorkZone.
The council has worked alongside Westfield to provide more than 12,000 jobs since the shopping centre first opened.
H&F Council also negotiated a number of improvements for White City ahead of the Westfield expansion at no cost to residents. They included:
- £3.9million improvement to Shepherds Bush Overground station
- £600,000 to maximise job opportunities through training and apprenticeships
- 578 cycle parking spaces.
Meanwhile a small electrical company based in Hammersmith recently won a substantial six-figure refurbishment contract with Westfield via the council’s new business support programme – H&F Brill Bizz Supply Chain – that makes it easier for small and medium-sized firms to win lucrative work contracts in the borough.
Director of Development at Westfield UK & Europe Duncan Bower said: “Since opening our doors in 2008, we are proud to have created over 12,000 permanent new jobs at Westfield London, whether as a direct employer or through our growing roster of exciting new retailers across fashion, food, leisure and entertainment.
“Now, in the build up to our anniversary marking 10 incredible years in London, we are continuing to invest in the community with jobs and training, creating thousands more exciting opportunities for local residents and beyond. We look forward to welcoming local shoppers to the expansion.”
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