Haskins Snowhill Garden Centre at Copthorne near Crawley has moved into its temporary building while the rest of the site is redeveloped over the next year...
Phase One of the project, now completed, includes:
- The temporary building
- Half of new car park plus new entrance
- New landscaping and tree
The main centre is due to re-open for business in spring 2020. In the meantime, Haskins will continue to trade in its temporary building.
Haskins worked with Barnwood Construction to install the temporary building while work gets under way on the new permanent facility. The temporary centre covers an indoor retail space of 1,575sq.m. and boasts a significant outdoor plant area (900sq.m.) as well as a 180-seat café.
Phase Two includes:
- Demolishing the old building
- A starting on the new garden centre
The new Snowhill will boast a retail space of 11,813 sq.m, including an outdoor plant area and 440-seat restaurant, with space for 170 restaurant guests on an outdoor patio and parking for 346 cars.
Haskins CE Julian Winfield says the temporary centre has already been met with positive feedback from customers. “Doing the construction in two phases like this has undoubtedly added time and cost to the project, but we believe that there are enormous benefits to our approach. We are retaining our Snowhill centre staff, so they will be ready and trained to work in the new centre. Another added bonus is that customers can join us on this journey – we’re so pleased that they’re keen to see what’s coming next.”
Haskins acquired Snowhill in 2002 with ambitions to develop it to the same standards and format as its other three centres and to upgrade the restaurant offer. When the new centre re-opens, up to 70 new jobs will be created.
Julian added: “Once the Snowhill redevelopment is finished, we will have four purpose-built garden centres, which puts Haskins in a unique position. Most leading garden centre groups have centres of varying shapes and sizes, but having four similar sites helps us alleviate the complexities of management.”
