Bluewater
is the most innovative, imaginative and exciting retail
and leisure opportunity in Europe today. It was developed
by Lend Lease, an international real estate corporation.
- Bluewater is unlike any other
shopping centre. It is an imaginatively designed,
triangular mall, featuring three big department stores,
one at each corner:- John Lewis, Marks and Spencer
and House of Fraser. The remaining stores, approximately
300, on two levels, are predominantly clothing and
‘lifestyle’ retailers. There are three
“leisure villages” incorporating restaurants,
cafes, and a multiplex cinema. It is the UK’s
largest shopping complex, measuring 154,000 sq. metres
(1.6m sq.ft.), and opened in March 1999.
- Bluewater attracts 26 million
shoppers annually - 80,000 daily.
- There’s a wealth of recreation
opportunities and entertainment facilities for children,
adults and families. Bluewater also provides a programme
of major festivals and celebrations appealing to everybody’s
taste.
- The Centre
is surrounded by attractive parkland, with a network
of waterways including seven lakes. A million trees
and shrubs have been planted and visitors are able
to walk or cycle around the park, go fishing or
boating, or picnic in the grounds.
Bluewater was built in a former
chalk quarry. Blue Circle quarried chalk there during
the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s, for use
in road-building and the manufacture of cement. The
quarry is about 50 metres deep, the height of eleven
double-decker buses on top of one another. It is roughly
1 kilometre wide, with a circumference of about 3.5
kilometres. The area of the quarry floor is 100 hectares,
equivalent to 100 soccer pitches and about the same
size as Regent’s Park in London.
Bluewater’s location in Kent Thameside
in north-west Kent, is just a mile from the M25 and
M2/A2 interchanges and makes it easily accessible to
visitors from Greater London, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and
Essex. Over £30M was invested in new roads. There
are 13,000 car parking spaces available – the
largest car park in the UK.
Local bus services and long-distance
coach services enable people to visit Bluewater without
their cars. In the longer term, a modern tramway system
is planned for north-west Kent, which will connect Bluewater
with local towns and Ebbsfleet station on the new high-speed
rail link. www.arriva.co.uk
Existing train service –
North Kent Line to “Greenhithe for Bluewater”.
www.connex.co.uk
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