“Waterstone’s Flagship branch on Piccadilly is the biggest bookshop in Europe. With specialist floors concentrating on fiction, academic genres and children's books it is a great resource for booklovers everywhere.” Waterstone’s
- Client Waterstone’s
- Project Piccadilly
- Cost £ 5m
- Sector Retail
- Location London & Nationwide
- Date Opened September 2000
- Background
- Waterstone’s opened their first bookshop in 1982. Since then the company has grown to become the UK’s leading specialist bookseller trading from almost 200 High Street and academic campus shops across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
- The Challenge
- L&H Solutions, having worked successfully with Waterstone’s on a number of stores, were appointed as the lead consultant during the stripping out and refurbishment of Waterstone’s Flagship store on Piccadilly in London, with the challenge of turning the former Simpson’s department store into the biggest bookstore in Europe.
- The Solution
- Architecturally and historically the Piccadilly building is very important and the new works involved careful and lengthy negotiations with English Heritage, The Crown Estates, The 20th Century Society and Westminster City Council. Key features of the building were restored and carefully integrated into the design of each floor. Walls, ceilings, floors and lifts on each level of the building were refurbished and the new installation works included a restaurant, a lounge bar, breakfast area, reading rooms, relaxation, play and display areas. The Piccadilly store is representative of the quality, design and finish that are key deliverables of the Waterstone’s brand and consequently the high standards demanded of L&H Solutions in each of their refurbishment projects.