The popular Haskins Garden Centre based in Crawley has opened the doors to its temporary building at the Snowhill site.

Phase one of the Snowhill centre’s redevelopment plan has now been completed, including:

• New temporary building erected
• Half of new car park completed
• Car Park entrance has moved
• New landscaping and trees in place

The Snowhill centre redevelopment plan is a 12-month project which will culminate in the main centre re-opening for business in spring 2020. In the meantime, Haskins will continue to trade in its temporary building.

Haskins worked with Barnwood Construction Ltd., to install its temporary building while work is underway to create a new permanent facility. The temporary centre covers an indoor retail space of 1,575sqm and boasts a significant outdoor plant area (900sqm) as well as a 180-seat café.

Phase two of the redevelopment plan is now underway, which includes:

• Working on demolishing the old building
• Starting to build the new garden centre

The new Snowhill centre opening in 2020 will boast a retail space of 11,813 sqm, including an outdoor plant area and 440-seat restaurant, with space for 170 restaurant guests on an outdoor patio. Car parking will also be improved with 346 spaces available.

Julian Winfield, chief executive of Haskins Garden Centres, commented: “We’re delighted with how our temporary Snowhill centre has turned out. We’ve been met with really positive feedback from customers so far and are really pleased to have everyone’s support on our temporary home while we continue to redevelop the rest of the site into the brand new Snowhill centre.

“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 the Snowhill centre in 2002 with ambitions to develop it to the same standards and format of its other three centres and to add a more extensive restaurant offer. When the new centre is complete and re-opens in 2020, up to 70 new jobs will be created to accommodate for the expansion. 

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.”

Haskins is located in Snowhill Lane, Copthorne, West Sussex, RH10 3EY. For more information visit www.haskins.co.uk