Part 2 of 4 A Shopping City Under One Roof

Westfield London, located in White City, west London, is one of Europe's largest shopping centres. Westfield Group, founded in Sydney in 1960 by Sir Frank Lowy, an Australian Hungarian entrepreneur who built a global retail property empire, originally developed it. In 2014, Westfield Group restructured into two entities: Westfield Corporation, which retained the international portfolio including London, and Scentre Group, which managed its Australian malls. In 2018, French-Dutch property giant Unibail-Rodamco acquired Westfield Corporation for approximately $24.7 billion, forming Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. Commerz Real, the German property investment manager, subsequently acquired a co-ownership stake. The centre opened on 30 October 2008, expanded in 2018, and today covers about 2.6 million square feet, with more than 460 stores, restaurants, cafés, and leisure facilities, attracting millions of visitors annually. However, the exact daily cost of security and electricity is not publicly disclosed. Security expenses depend on staffing levels, control-room operations, CCTV monitoring and patrols. Electricity costs depend on lighting, heating, ventilation, escalators and other equipment. Although the centre is not open to shoppers 24 hours a day, some security systems and essential services operate continuously. Therefore, any daily cost estimate would require reliable operational data from the owners. Follow more of London with PGS (gaisiance@outlook.com)