Westfield London

Background

The development is on a large brownfield site, part of which was once the location of the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. The initial site clearance demolished the set of halls still remaining from the exhibition (their cheap-to-build, white-painted blank facades are said to be the origin of the name White City). There were also considerable precautions needed during demolition due to the expectation of finding unexploded bombs from raids on a local munitions factory during the World War II blitz.^{[citation needed]}

Elsewhere on the site was a London Underground railway depot, which had to be kept fully operational while a new depot was built underground to allow the new shopping centre to be built above both the new depot, and on the old depot site. The old depot was then demolished.^[8]

The initial plan for a shopping centre at this location was developed by a consortium, the largest company involved being the UK division of Australian property company Multiplex. However, due to heavy financial losses in other ventures, including the construction of the new Wembley Stadium, Multiplex was forced to sell its stake to the Westfield Group.^[9]

The development was built by Westfield Construction, the developer's own construction arm and was delivered on schedule.^[10] Robert Bird Group were the structural engineers for the job.^[11] The roof was designed by Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering (Stuttgart, Germany).^[12] The project took five years to build, employing 8,000 people.^[13] During the site development period, up to 3000 local people received pre-employment training through a partnership scheme aiming to ensure that a significant proportion of the centre's jobs were taken up by local residents. 40% of the centre's management staff had been locally recruited at the time when the centre opened.^[14]

On the 7 July 2015, Mohammed Rehman and Sana Ahmed Khan planned to explode a bomb which consisted of 10 kg of urea nitrate inside the shopping centre. The attack was set to occur on the 10 year anniversary of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, but was thwarted by police.^[15]

2008–2020: Opening and growth

The centre was opened to the public on 30 October 2008 by Frank Lowy, CEO of Westfield Group, in an event also attended by Mayor Boris Johnson, with a retail floor area of 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m²).^[3][6] It became the largest covered shopping centre in London having overtaken the Whitgift Centre in Croydon.^[6] Amid great hype, two million shoppers visited the centre in its first three weeks, despite the 2008 financial crisis in the UK.^[16]

However the 2008 financial crisis did cause a swift fall in shoppers and some shops forcing to close in 2009. While some commentators suspected Westfield London to fail during the economic gloom, the centre reported increased sales in 2010 following an unexpectedly large number of tourist shoppers.^[17][18]

On 16 February 2012, Hammersmith & Fulham Council approved a 700,000 sq ft extension to the north of the existing site. Building work began in 2014, and the extension opened in three phases.^[19] The first phase opened in March 2018, and the final phase opened in October 2018. On completion, Westfield London's size increased to 2.6 million square feet (240,000 m²), making it the largest shopping centre in Europe.^[20]

The north side of the extension is bounded by a railway viaduct, and the south side of the extension is adjunct to the original shopping centre. The extension replaces an industrial estate which previously occupied the area, divided by Ariel Way. The extension includes 51,000 square metres (550,000 sq ft) of retail space including a 70,000 sq ft Primark store, offices, new streets, public spaces, and approximately 1,522 new homes. The development ranges from four to twelve storeys high with one building of 20 storeys.

The work also includes modifications to Shepherd's Bush railway station, relocation of the White City bus station and reuse of the Dimco Buildings, and pedestrian links on the east side of the site connecting Hammersmith & Fulham with Kensington & Chelsea.^[21][22][23]

KidZania, a part of the extension, opened in 2015.^[24][25][26]

The department store John Lewis is the occupant of an 'anchor store' within the extension and opened in March 2018.^[27]

2020–present: COVID-19 and changes

On 28 April 2020 it was announced that Debenhams' Westfield London store had closed permanently due to the COVID-19 lockdown and entering administration.^[28][29] The former Debenhams space was occupied by a Harrods Outlet for a time.^[30][31]

In January 2023, House of Fraser closed its store in the centre following approval by Hammersmith and Fulham Council of a planning application back in 28 July 2020 on transforming two-thirds of the unit's space into office spaces and two separate retail units that will face the inside of the centre.^{[32][33][34][35]} It was also confirmed in March that TK Maxx would be taking over part of the former Debenhams anchor unit space.^[36]

In January 2024, KidZania closed its entertainment centre at the centre, it is set to be replaced by a Wake the Tiger immersive experience in 2026.^[37][38]

Stores

It has a retail floor area of 2.6 million square feet (240,000 m²).^[20] The centre features around 320 stores and is anchored by 4 anchor tenants.

The centre also has a high-end retail area called The Village and a food court called Eat Gallery.

• 
  'The Village', 2009
• 
  Food Court, 2009
• 
  Food Court, 2022
• 
  Main Atrium, 2014
• 
  Interior, 2009
• 
  The Loft, 2009

Entertainment

Vue opened a seventeen-screen cinema on 12 February 2010,^[39] including five 3D-enabled screens, with a seating capacity of almost 3,000.

As part of the expansion of the centre, Puttshack opened in July 2018, being promoted as London's first hi-tech indoor mini-golf centre.^[40][41]