Press release

WESTFIELD LONDON, WEST LONDON’S LEADING SHOPPING, DINING AND LEISURE DESTINATION, OPENS NEW JOHN LEWIS EXPANSION

• Westfield London’s expansion opens 6-months ahead of schedule as part of a phased-opening with exciting new retailers including John Lewis  
• The Westfield London 740,000 sq ft expansion reinforces West London as a leading destination for shopping, dining and entertainment
• Westfield Square, a new public events space surrounded with shops, dining and leisure outlets, will go live in Summer 2018  of the £8bn White City Opportunity Area Regeneration
• Westfield London and its expansion is the key catalyst and cornerstone 
• The expansion will create 8,000 new jobs taking the total jobs at Westfield London to 20,000

 
Tuesday 20^th March London UK Westfield London today launches the first phase opening of its £600m expansion, 6-months ahead of schedule, which will welcome major new store openings including John Lewis, Adidas, H&M, West Elm, Currys PC World, Boots, Space NK, Mango and The White Company.

Today signals the start of a phased opening of the 740,000 sq ft expansion which will see more than 90 new shops, cafes, restaurants and leisure outlets open throughout 2018 taking Westfield London to 2.6m sq ft, making it the largest shopping centre Europe. The Westfield London expansion will reinforce West London as a leading shopping, dining and entertainment destination.
 
The key feature of the expansion is a new state of the art John Lewis full-line department store over 4-levels and 230,000 sq ft. John Lewis has been the most sought after retailer in Westfield London shopper surveys since opening the centre in 2008.
 
New fashion retailers joining the expansion include Primark, which is opening a 70,000 sq ft store, Chinese brand Urban Revivo opening its first store outside Asia along with Boden, Bravissimo, Stradivarius, Frencheye, Emperor and Charles Tyrwhitt.
 
As well as strengthening its homewares offer with West Elm, Bo Concept, DFS and Raft, Westfield London will also be adding to its health and beauty proposition with Space.NK, Urban Decay, a new Boots, expanded Lush and new stores from Molton Brown, Miller Harris, Penhaligons and Blink Brow Bar.  A brand new fitness concept, FirstLight Cycle will also open and will become the UK’s largest boutique cycling offering.
 
Following their success at Westfield London, H&M, The White Company, Monsoon, Mango, Guess, UGG, Cath Kidston, Pull & Bear and Bershka will be launching bigger and enhanced stores within the expansion.
 
A new dedicated outdoor events space, Westfield Square, which is one of the focal points of the expansion adjacent to Wood Lane and White City tube stations, will provide a major focus on dining, entertainment and experience and will go live in Summer 2018. Operators such as Europe’s largest Japanese food hall Ichiba, All Star Lanes, Puttshack (the world’s first super tech indoor mini-golf experience) and new restaurant and bar concept, Maple, will add to the vibrancy of Westfield Square when they open throughout 2018.

Westfield Square is adjacent to the red brick Dimco Building which was built in 1899 and once was the engine and boiler houses of the Wood Lane generating station which supplied energy for the Central London Railways and more recently acted as a layover for buses. Westfield now proposes to convert this building into a vibrant venue to host events and entertainment, such as Burberry’s recent London Fashion Week event.

The additional flagship stores and restaurants will bring the total number to 450 outlets upon completion, with 1,000 additional parking spaces being created – totalling 5,500 parking spaces.

Westfield London houses the best in retail, dining, leisure, events and entertainment with customer experience at the heart. It has a unique offering anchored by four major department stores including John Lewis, M&S, Debenhams and House of Fraser, along with major retailers including Waitrose, Next and Primark, the UK’s only luxury quarter inside a shopping centre, The Village as well as the UK’s number one cinema Vue. 

Peter Miller, COO of Westfield Europe said following the successful opening in 2008, Westfield has been masterplanning this expansion to connect with and stimulate the broader White City regeneration.

“The further investment ahead of the centre’s 10^th anniversary year, is testimony to the strength of Westfield London which experiences high retail demand for space from luxury and high street brands looking to house their flagship stores, along with first to market dining and leisure concepts.

Westfield London has introduced a number of UK centre firsts including the first luxury precinct, new hotel concierge services, an expanded dining offer as well as hosting major international events and film premieres. It is now time to build on that success with the opening of the expansion.”

Westfield London is a 50:50 joint venture between Westfield and German Commerz Real, a subsidiary of Commerzbank AG. 

Roland Holschuh, the board member at Commerz Real AG responsible for Real Estate Asset Management said:

“Since its opening in 2008, Westfield London has displayed an outstanding performance, and now we are writing a further chapter in this success story together with Westfield,” said

“The extensive further development of the centre takes into account the high level of demand from current and future retailers. Great Britain, and in particular London, remains an important European market for us.”

Paula Nickolds, Managing Director, John Lewis said,

“We're thrilled to be the anchor shop in the extension of this world leading shopping and leisure destination.

Our 50th shop demonstrates our latest thinking and we will offer customers something quite different. It’s also where we can build a far more personal relationship with our customers - bringing together the very best of our service with our outstanding Partners."

Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council, said:

“We're particularly pleased to have Westfield London working with us to build economic growth that works for all our residents. In this latest phase, we have negotiated new social housing, new jobs and new infrastructure that will benefit our residents.

“We’ve also made sure H&F residents have first choice on the 8,000 jobs up for grabs in the Westfield expansion and negotiated a raft of improvements for White City, including a £3.9million investment in Shepherds Bush Overground station, 578 new cycle parking spaces and a new southern station entrance at Wood Lane. Our borough is fortunate to have all that Westfield brings and this latest development is a really exciting addition to our borough."

In celebration of its 10 years in London, Westfield is also at the forefront of London’s latest landmark development project – the regeneration of White City. Westfield London has been a catalyst to the £8bn redevelopment of the wider White City Opportunity Area in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

As part of the expansion, Westfield London will deliver 1,500 new homes including affordable homes of which 89 will be completed by Summer 2018. Westfield will also deliver 45,000 sq ft of offices space and will include Westfield’s new European headquarters. 

Westfield will directly contribute £24m to support the successful development of the White City Opportunity Area in particular improvements to infrastructure, education, skills and public realm. Westfield will invest £14m to support overall infrastructure in the borough. Westfield has invested £7million to support transport improvements including rail infrastructure, increased bus capacity and road improvements which takes the total investment of infrastructure to over £200m over the 10 years. 8,000 new permanent jobs are also being created.

To support the expansion, Westfield London launched its creative advertising ‘Meet the New Neighbours’ campaign with James Corden OBE, TV cook and food writer Nigella Lawson and model of the moment Adwoa Aboah, alongside the Muppet’s leading lady, Miss Piggy. Each icon represents the breadth of the Westfield offering from entertainment, food, fashion and family. ‘Meet the New Neighbours’, will run in press, digital, social, OOH, PPC and in centre until November 2018.

Westfield press office                        westfielduk@hkstrategies.com             +44 2074133318

Commerz Real:                     gerd.johannsen@commerzreal.com   +49 61171054279

About Westfield London Expansion

The construction of the £600 million retail expansion of Westfield London began in 2015 and launches in March 2018, signaling the start of a phased opening of the vast project, with a number of major announcements and openings taking place in Spring and Summer ahead of Westfield London’s 10^th anniversary on 30^th October 2018.

The new retailers will be among more than 90 new shops, cafes, restaurants and entertainment destinations that will open within the 740,000 sq ft expansion, which will see the retail destination become the largest in Europe.

The extension will consolidate Westfield London’s position as a world-leading retail and entertainment destination, featuring the best in fashion, dining, leisure, events, services and technology with customer experience at the heart.

The expansion will continue to prove attractive to international and UK retailers seeking flagship stores, building significantly upon the £1 billion retail sales that the centre currently generates.

On completion, Westfield London will comprise around 450 shops across 2.6m sq. ft. of lettable area offering an enhanced customer experience. 

KEY STATS

• 740,000 sq. ft. of additional retail, dining, entertainment and leisure, bringing the total to 2.6m sq. ft. plus additional office floor space (45,000 sq. ft.) which will include Westfield Europe’s new Headquarters
• Largest retail development under construction opening in 2018
• Over 90 shops including 230,000 sq. ft. John Lewis department store plus additional flagship stores and restaurants, bringing the total to 450 stores
• A major focus on dining and experience around a dedicated open events space and the Dimco Building
• 1,000 additional parking spaces - total 5,500 parking spaces
• 1,522 new home including affordable homes to be delivered in stages in the coming years
• Westfield London is located in one ofthe most connected areas in London with four underground stations servicing three tube lines, an Overground station and two bus stations.  

About Westfield Corporation

Westfield Corporation (ASX Code: WFD) is an internally managed, vertically integrated, shopping centre group undertaking ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management, property management, leasing and marketing activities and employing approximately 2,000 staff worldwide. Westfield Corporation has interests in 35 shopping centres in the United States, and the United Kingdom, encompassing approximately 6,500 retail outlets and total assets under management of $34.5bn. In December 2017, Unibail-Rodamco and Westfield announced it had entered into an agreement for Unibail-Rodamco to acquire Westfield to create the world’s premier developer and operator of flagship shopping destinations. Documentation for the proposal is expected to be sent to security holders in April with the vote and implementation expected to occur later in the first half of 2018.

About Commerz Real

Commerz Real is a subsidiary of Commerzbank AG with more than 45 years of market experience and approximately 31 billion euros in assets under management. The company combines comprehensive know-how in asset management and a broad-based structuring expertise to deliver its signature range of services of fund products focused on tangibles and bespoke financing solutions. The fund spectrum includes the open-ended real estate fund hausInvest, institutional investment products as well as entrepreneurial participations in real estate, aircraft, regenerative energy and ships. In its role as leasing company of Commerzbank Group, Commerz Real offers tailored equipment leasing concepts along with bespoke financing arrangements for assets such as real estate, big-ticket equipment and infrastructure projects.