Wates Smartspace Raises The Bar For Retail Fitout At New M&S Store
Wates Smartspace has reached completion of a significant retail fit-out at M&S Bluewater, a project that saw the team take a pioneering approach to ensure full store operations were maintained for customers.
Delivered while maintaining full trading to the food hall, the Wates team created a temporary retail space overnight to allow a seamless and uninterrupted fit-out programme.
The project saw Wates Smartspace take an eight-phase food hall fit-out and reduce the phases in the programme by 75%, delivering the complete fit-out and temporary store in just two phases.
Work began in January this year and included the full fit-out and extension of the existing food hall to create a revamped 25,440 square foot Foodhall, including a large bakery, fresh produce section and a new Mai Sushi counter. It also included the installation of a living cork wall and a new ‘Fill Your Own’ station where customers can stock up on refillable products to reduce plastic use.
Richard Evans, Key Account Director for Wates Smartspace, commented: “A retail fit-out project would usually be delivered in multiple phases, with the staggered closing off of sections to complete the works. Done in this way, we enable retailers to maintain operations throughout the works. For M&S Bluewater, the team took this a step further and mitigated disruption for colleagues and customers by creating a temporary store for the project’s duration.”
Wates Smartspace has delivered over 50 projects through the retailer’s Foodhall Framework since 2014, each designed to bring theatre to the shopping experience with new illuminated signage, bespoke wall finishes, new fridge cases and local wall messages.
So far this year the team have created three new food halls at Finsbury Park, Newark and New Milton with a series of projects on site, including full line stores and new food halls at Battersea, Canary Wharf and Macclesfield.
Richard continued: “Having worked with Marks and Spencer for over two decades, we have become a trusted fit-out partner. We understand the M&S brand, their vision and the desired aesthetic for their stores enabling us to deliver exceptional projects that elevate the customer experience.”
