January 2008
Dobbies Garden Centres is currently in the process of preparing a planning application to South Lanarkshire Council for a £14m Garden World at Peel Park, East Kilbride.
With the potential to bring around 120 full and part time jobs to the area, the new development would provide a state of the art garden centre and an enjoyable leisure experience to people in East Kilbride and South Glasgow.
Headquartered in Edinburgh, Dobbies is known for their innovative approach in combining destination based retailing with leisure and a lifestyle experience.
The new Garden World would offer an extensive indoor and outdoor plant and gardening area, a Farm Foodhall boasting some of the finest locally sourced fresh produce available in Scotland and beyond, a specialist Aquatics department, large restaurant with conservatory and a children’s play area.
The horticultural theme is planned to continue through an indoor gift range including books, cards and stationery, toys, candles and home fragrances, home accessories and perfumed body products
The new Garden World would also have extensive free car parking and coach facilities and access would be via the new roundabout currently being constructed on Redwood Crescent.
Set within beautiful grounds, Dobbies propose to create a fun and engaging landscape which incorporates specimen ornamental tree and shrub planting and seasonal colour through herbaceous plants and bulb planting.
An ecologist will work alongside Dobbies using sustained forms of landscaping to ensure local habitat is protected. Enhancing views both from within and outwith the site, the boundary landscaping of the development would comprise of native stock woodland planting, hedgerow and mature specimen trees suitable for the site locations and conditions. The site will also see the inclusion of sustained drainage.
The garden centre will even boast an eco-garden and attractive themed demonstration gardens to inspire and entertain customers
The building itself would employ the most modern sustainable building techniques and materials where possible. Water will be recycled through a ‘Grey Water System’ and heating and much of the buildings power will come from a biomass boiler, fuelled by sustainable timber. This will include providing a minimum of 10% of Dobbies energy requirements from renewable sources and may include the use of wind turbines to generate power and biomass for heat. A grey water system will be incorporated to recycle rainwater and all timber used in the construction will be from sustainable sources.
Stuart Wright, Director of Property comments: “We aim to create an exceptional leisure and retail experience, to inspire, educate and to entertain. Dobbies propose to create a quality and natural environment which creates a ‘day out’ experience for visitors.”
A public exhibition of Dobbies proposal will be held at the Holiday Inn, Stewartfield Way, East Kilbride on Thursday 24th January between 2pm and 9pm.
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For further information please contact:
Rachel Walker, Public Relations Manager at Dobbies Garden Centres, on 0131 561 6070 or rachelwalker@dobbies.com
