WORK BEGINS ON £60m BLUEWATER EVENTS VENUE

Work has now begun on the £60m Bluewater Events Venue, a project announced by Lend Lease, the UK’s leading integrated property company and developers of Bluewater.

The Events Venue, has been designed by internationally renowned architects and exhibition experts Denton, Corker Marshall and will be centred around a 32,000 sq ft (3,000m2) plaza accessible from the Thames Walk through the existing Water Circus.  It will include 43,000 sq ft (4,000m2) of catering/restaurants space, and a number of new stores.

BAM Construct UK, who have built campuses in Dartford and Gravesend for North West Kent College, have been appointed as the primary contractor.

Richard Cable, Lend Lease’s head of development in the UK, and Jeremy Kite, Leader of Dartford Borough Council, joined Andrew Parkinson, Bluewater’s General Manager, for a ceremony on-site that formally marked the start of construction on the 55,000 sq ft (5,200m2) events and exhibition venue.
 
Richard Cable, head of Lend Lease’s development business in the UK, said: “Once complete, the events venue will allow Bluewater to provide a year round, consumer oriented leisure experience and will function as a major attraction. “It will include significant measures to reduce resource consumption both during construction and operation, including bio diverse habitat for 13 species on one of the largest green roofs in London at 3,000m2, be 20% more energy efficient than Building Regulations, and reduce water demand by 35% through rainwater harvesting - saving 1.2 million litres of water annually.”

Please watch this space for regular updates as the construction progresses.