The Liberty

ABOUT THE LIBERTY

The Liberty is in the retail heart of Romford, the principal town in the outer eastern London boroughs. It has recently been completely transformed with a £54m redevelopment project. From being an old sixties style windy shopping precinct it is now a state of the art shopping centre.

The Liberty now plays a central role in repositioning Romford as a key destination for shopping in the region - offering a legitimate alternative to Ilford and Lakeside for regular comparison goods purchases. For the first time, Romford features in the top 50 UK retailing Cities, entering at number 49.

KEY FACTS: BACKGROUND

The Liberty covers approximately 73 000 sq m and contains 36 400 sq m of retail space comprising 92 stores.

The Liberty within Romford Town Centre

It is estimated that 4 000 people work on site including 40 staff employed by The Liberty Management Team.

There are 800 parking spaces at The Liberty. Upon planning application a section 106 agreement was passed by the council stating that the centre must charge the same rates for parking as the council car parks within the town.

The car park has won the Association of Police Officers "Secure Car Park Award" every year since opening to the public in November 2002.

The Liberty currently attracts 24.5 million customers a year with an average weekly footfall of 425 000.

KEY FACTS: THE TRANSFORMATION

The Liberty was first built in 1968 on land known as 'Liberty'. In 1999 Hammerson acquired Standard Life's 50% Interest and in 2000 acquired the Freehold on the land. Once the planning application had been granted for the amazing transformation of the centre, work started in August 2001 with the knocking down of the old toilet block in Liberty Square.
The Liberty under construction

Liberty Sqaure area during redevelopment

Construction was an engineering feat. Retailers traded throughout the whole of the building work.

In April 2003 the centre achieved practical completion. The celebration of the transformation took place on the weekend of 21st and 22nd June 2003.

Ground floor plan post redevelopment

Work was also carried out on the first floor of the centre comprising the service deck. Roads were rerouted to facilitate easier stock deliveries.
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INTERESTING FACTS: THE TRANSFORMATION

58 different trades were required on site to complete the transformation
400 people were employed on site at any one time to work on construction
6326 m sq of block work bricks were used
The granite flooring takes up a massive 5085 m sq. These specialist granite tiles were imported from Italy
A colossal area of 3640 m sq required painting
The glass atrium ceiling takes up 3350 m sq and had to be specially sourced from Canada
34284 welded sheer studs were used in construction

THE LIBERTY'S CATCHMENT

The Liberty has a catchment of 500,000 within 20 minutes drive time. Research, undertaken by Hammerson since the relaunch, shows that The Liberty is attracting a significantly younger age profile, particularly under 35s, a greater number of visitors from beyond the 30-minute drive-time catchment population who are spending more when they visit. The catchment is very mixed, with 55 per cent falling into the top 6 MOSAIC groups - ABHIJK.

ANCHOR TENANTS

Anchored by Bhs, Boots, Debenhams, H&M, Marks & Spencer and Primark, The Liberty has also seen WH Smith increase its presence in the shopping centre through a newly created 1,533m sq flagship store.

The scale of new investment carried out at The Liberty has been a key attraction for a number of existing retailers in Romford. Fashion giant Next expanded the size of its trading presence in the town with a new 1,700m sq flagship store at The Liberty, and the store is now one of the retailer's top five performing stores outside central London.

RETAILERS

H&M
Next
USC
Foot Locker
Ann Summers
Beaverbrooks
Mall café
Lush

900 m sq
1,600 m sq
650 m sq
251 m sq
186 m sq
130 m sq
93 m sq
71m sq

31,000 ft sq
17,000 ft sq
7,000 ft sq
2,700 ft sq
2,000 ft sq
1,400 ft sq
1,000 ft sq
760 ft 2

SHOP OPENING HOURS

Monday to Wednesday
Thursday
Friday and Saturday
Sunday

0900 - 1800
0900 - 1900
0900 - 1800
1100 - 1700

WHO OWNS THE LIBERTY?

Cosgrave Property Group

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