Property News - Spalding scheme nearly fully let

Thornfield Properties' 13,000 sq m factory outlet centre at Springfields, in Spalding, Lincolnshire, is 80 per cent spoken for more than year ahead of opening day.

Retailers such as Suits You, Virgin Cosmetics, Pilot, Cotton Traders, XS Music, Stead & Simpson, Ponden Mill, Designer Room, Caterpillar, Logo and Antler Luggage have taken units on the 15 ha site.

The project is being developed by Thornfield, with backing from Lehman Brothers and HBOS. Contracts have been exchanged on more than 60 per cent of the floorspace, with another 20 per cent in solicitors' hands.

CACI location analysts say that with weak competing retail offers and an affluent catchment, Springfields has a similar profile to Clarks Village at Street in Somerset. They forecast it should generate average sales densities in excess of£3,750 per sq m.

Speciality Retail Group chief executive Alex Brick was among the first to sign up. He said: 'The decision to put the Suits You and Autonomy brand into Springfields is testament to the confidence we have in the scheme. CACI's trend analysis indicates that the scheme could be among one of the top-performing FOCs in the UK.'

Markham Vaughan Gillingham is the letting agent.