Intu Watford reaches key milestone

Laing O’Rourke has topped out at the intu Watford shopping centre redevelopment, with progress to date praised. New centre is due to open to customers in August 2018.

A topping out ceremony has taken place in Watford town centre, to mark the highest point of building being reached, with a ceremonial piece of concrete being laid on the roof at the intu Watford retail centre re-development.

Representatives from centre developer intu and contractor Laing O’Rourke attended the ceremony, where leaders from both organisations reflected on the progress already made.

Laing O’Rourke’s Head of UK Building, Liam Cummins, said: “Having only started on-site in the middle of last year it’s great to see the progress made by the team in reaching this key milestone. We continue to develop our partnership with intu, and are committed to innovative engineering in the retail sector. We look forward to the final phase of this transformational project in the coming months.”

The £180 million redevelopment, which is scheduled to open in autumn 2018, will bring new fashion, beauty, food and leisure stores to Watford, including a brand new 9 screen IMAX Cineworld cinema. The extension will be anchored by a 113,000 sq ft Debenhams store, with high street favourites already signed up to join the centre including Superdry, trading from a 6,630 sq ft store inside the 400,000 sq ft extension. Around two thirds of the extension is now let, with Hollywood Bowl and a range of family friendly restaurants such as TGI Friday, Las Iguanas and Byron among the leisure brands to have signed up for prime retail space.

Work is also underway transform the overall offer in Watford’s existing shopping centre to make it a first class retail, dining and leisure destination. Modernisation of the centre will include enhancements to the high level architecture, flooring and ceilings, alongside an upgrade of both the lighting scheme, toilet and changing facilities.

For additional details on the development, go to www.intu.co.uk/Watford