This will be the first time that the Ashford Designer Outlet has been expanded since it opened in 2000. Building works are due to start this week and the expansion will be complete in 2019. Up to new 50 brands are expected to open once the expansion is finished and 500 new jobs will be created.
There will also be 170 jobs for construction staff while the expansion is completed. Councillor Gerry Clarkson, the leader of Ashford Borough Council, expressed his pleasure at having approved the expansion and stated that he believed it would make the Ashford Designer Outlet into one of the UK's premier shopping destinations. The creation of such a significant number of new jobs has also been welcomed and the expansion has been highlighted by the council as a key employment driver for the area.
Peter Corr, the centre manager at the Ashford Designer Outlet stated that over £90 million will be invested in the next 18 months to ensure that the expansion work helps to make the Outlet a flagship shopping destination. In addition to bringing new brands into the Ashford designer Outlet, there will be 725 additional car parking spaces created, a new food piazza, a brand-new events area plus the children's play area will be redesigned.
The proposed expansion of the Ashford Designer Outlet will have one extremely unique quality. It will include the largest living wall in Europe. It is intended to cover the majority of the new stores in thousands of small plants which will be stacked one on top of each other. The idea behind this green design is that the Ashford Designer Outlet is situated in Kent and Kent is known as the "garden of England".
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