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| Location | Stone, Kent, England |
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| Coordinates | 51°26′23″N0°16′16″E / 51.4396°N 0.2712°E /51.4396; 0.2712 |
| Opening date | 16 March 1999; 26 years ago (1999-03-16) |
| Developer | Lendlease |
| Owner | Landsec (55%) Prudential (35%) Hermes (10%)[1] |
| Architect | Eric Kuhne |
| Stores and services | 300 |
| Anchor tenants | 2 (Marks & Spencer &John Lewis) |
| Floor area | 1,675,955 square feet (155,701.3 m2) |
| Floors | 2(3/4in parts) |
| Parking | 13,000 cars 39 Pod Point spaces 17 Tesla Spaces 15 coaches/motorhomes |
| Public transit | Bluewater bus stop (see below) |
| Website | bluewater |
Bluewater Shopping Centre (commonly known asBluewater) is a large out-of-townshopping centre inStone (postallyGreenhithe),Kent, England, just outside theM25 motorway ring, 17.8 miles (28.6 km) east south east ofLondon's centre. Opened on 16 March 1999 in a former chalk quarry after ten years of building works, the site (including car parks) occupies 240 acres (97 ha) and has a sales floor area of 154,000 m2 (1,600,000 ft2) over three levels, making it thefifth-largest shopping centre in the UK (afterWestfield London,MetroCentre,Trafford Centre andWestfield Stratford City). Elsewhere in Europe onlyIstanbul'sCevahir Mall andVienna's (Vösendorf)Shopping City Süd are bigger. The floor plan is a triangular shape with 210 stores, including threeanchors, 50 cafés and restaurants, and a 17-screen cinema. The centre employs 7,000 people and serves over28 million visitors a year. A main rival is theLakeside Shopping Centre and its two retail parks inWest Thurrock,Essex, just across theRiver Thames, 8 miles (13 km) away by road or 3.2 miles (5.1 km) as the crow flies.
It is owned by three major UK institutions:Landsec (55%),Prudential andPRUPIM (35%) andHermes (10%).[2]
In May 1990,Environment SecretaryMichael Heseltine granted planning permission for the centre, encompassing 1.5 million sq ft (139,354.6 m2) of retail and 125,000 sq ft (11,312.9 m2) of leisure facilities.[3] In 1994, quarry operatorBlue Circle approached Australian mall developerLendlease to form a partnership. Instead, Lend Lease bought the land and the project from Blue Circle, and, under the leadership of its CEO Peter Walichnowski, gathered a group of major investors, which included:Prudential,Barclays Mercantile, Hermes (acting for Britel),Lloyds Leasing, andRoyal Bank Leasing. Lendlease also formed a pool of minor investors, called the Lend Lease Retail Partnership, with 18 institutions and corporations.
John Lewis was the first major tenant to sign up in February 1995, albeit with major concessions, such as the offer of 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m2), one fifth of the entire floor space, on three levels.[4] That gave Bluewater credibility to sign more names, including the two otheranchor stores:House of Fraser followed in June 1996 byMarks & Spencer. 90% of the retail space was committed by March 1998.
Construction, undertaken byBovis, commenced in March 1995.[5][6] At its peak, the site employed 2,500 workers. In all, 20,000 people worked11.5 million hours on the construction of Bluewater. At the planned opening date, 16 March 1999, Bluewater was inaugurated with 99% of the shops open for business. The total cost of construction was aroundGBP £400 million.[7]In December 2021 Lendlease sold its 25% shareholding to Landsec.[8]
With further expansion and development in the shopping centre industry since Bluewater's opening in 1999, perhaps most prominently the entry ofWestfield London andWestfield Stratford City into the market, Bluewater has looked to make changes to its offering to keep the centre up to date and provide new and additional customer experiences. Numerous stores have been refurbished, expanded or relocated in recent years as the centre looks to expand and upgrade its mix of retailers, and there have been some major construction projects, mostly centred on the three leisure/dining 'villages', undertaken or proposed.
In late 2006, Dartford Borough Council granted planning permission for Bluewater to build a two-storey events venue[9] of 5200 m2, and further extend the south side of the centre. Construction on the extension began in early 2010, and when completed in 2011 the expansion added more restaurants to the Plaza (formerly Water Circus) section, including aJamie's Italian,Wagamama andBrowns. The new Glow events centre opened as part of the extension spans two floors, and has held events such as theBBC'sGood Food Show: Spring. However, due to low visitors, Glow was closed in 2016, with the space being converted to extra cinema screens, a second Pizza Express restaurant, Creams Dessert Parlour, Rosa's Thai Cafe and Dinotropolis adventure play area on the Upper Level, and a GraVity Trampoline Park on the Lower Level. The events venue was developed alongside the existing entertainment provision in this area, theShowcase cinema which has been present in this area (initially as a Hoyts multiplex) since the opening of Bluewater.
During 2012, the Wintergarden food court area off Rose Gallery was extensively refurbished. Much of the food court was closed for part of the year to enable the work, withMcDonald's notably unavailable at Bluewater throughout the period, though thePizza Hut,Nando's restaurants to the far side of the area (by the centre entrance), and the Ponti's restaurant on the upper mall, remained open during the works.KFC relocated to Thames Walk to continue to trade during the development. When the Wintergarden works completed in October 2012, McDonald's, KFC and Harry Ramsden's returned to their post, along with several new food outlets, most significantly a newGiraffe restaurant (later occupied byWingstop) which had been constructed adjacent McDonald's. The previous large 'castle'-style McDonald's was replaced with a simple serving counter.[10]
A proposal was put forward in early 2013 to expand the West Village dining and specialist retail area currently sited off the Guildhall. This currently comprises aWaterstones bookshop, a training and recruitment facility, andCosta Coffee shop on the upper mall, and on the lower mall a row of boutique retailers including The Daily Grind, Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shop, Gusto & Daisy's Dog Emporium leading out to a suite of restaurants includingCarluccio's,PizzaExpress and others. The proposal would see much of the existing infrastructure demolished and replaced with a new larger two-level 'specialist retail' area, similar to 'The Village' at Westfield London, with upmarket retail and restaurant facilities and mall access to both levels. Existing businesses would have to be relocated or removed from the centre to allow the works to go ahead.[11][12] The proposed redevelopment ultimately did not go ahead, with The Village retaining its extant configuration.
In 2024 it was confirmed that one of the mall's original anchors,House of Fraser, was to close after 25 years in operation. In November 2024 it was announced thatNext would be relocated into the vacated space, moving from their existing premises on Thames Walk.[13]
The centre is visited by over 27 million people a year and employs around 7,000 people.[14][15]
The principal architect wasEric Kuhne. Other firms involved in the design and branding wereBenoy, BDG McColl, RTKO, Henrion Ludlow & Schmidt and Minale Tattersfield.[16]
The main building is a triangle of three malls: Thames Walk, Guildhall and Rose Gallery, with one anchor store at each corner. Curved and tapered glass sections form the roofing over each mall, providing significant natural lighting.[17] The roof vents are inspired by Kentishoast houses.[18]
There are statues of historic trades along the walls above the upper level.[19]
There are over 13,000 free parking spaces including disabled parking, across six car parks. As of 27 May 2022, Bluewater offers 39Pod Point spaces and 17Tesla spaces for EV Charging across the site.
The nearest railway station to Bluewater isGreenhithe for Bluewater, 1.5 miles away.[20] It is served bySoutheastern andThameslink trains toLuton,London Cannon Street,London Charing Cross,London Victoria,Gravesend andRainham.[21]
Arriva Southern Counties,Go-Ahead London (Fastrack routes),Go Coach,Ensignbus,National Express andLondon Buses routes96,428 and492 serve Bluewater bus station.[22][23][24][25]
