Norton Rose Fulbright is advising German open-ended fund Commerz Real Investmentgesellschaft mbH (CRI) in relation to its joint venture and funding arrangements in connection with the extension to the Westfield London shopping centre which, following the extension, will be the largest shopping centre in Europe.

CRI owns the existing Westfield centre at White City in a 50/50 joint venture with Westfield.

The existing Westfield Shopping Centre is to be extended by way of an approximately 740,000 sq ft development extending onto land to the north of the existing centre, which is currently owned by Westfield. The extension will host a department store, a large number of additional retail units, leisure facilities and restaurants.

Work on the extension has commenced and the new facility is anticipated to open in 2018.

David Hawkins, partner, comments:

“We have been working with CRI on this project for more than 10 years since CRI funded the initial development of the centre and are delighted to be able to assist in the next phase of Westfield London’s development. It is a very complex and exciting project to be involved with given the scale of the site and the various surrounding stakeholders, such as TfL, and will help with the ongoing regeneration of the White City opportunity area.”

The cross practice Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by real estate partner David Hawkins and included associates Paul Stanistreet and Miriam Jones. The team also included Angela Savin (tax), Duncan Field and Sarah Bischoff (planning), and Richard Hill and Jim Jordan (construction).