Sprucefield - Sprucefield Park

Sprucefield Park

Sprucefield Park was opened in 2003, with Sainsbury's and B&Q as anchor tenants. There are four smaller units; one of which is occupied by Currys, one by Argos, one by Next Home and the last by Toys 'R' Us. The 21,500m2 (231,426ft2) project was managed by a Stannifer/Snoddons Construction joint venture. Stannifer is a British property development company, while the latter is a construction company based in Hillsborough, County Down. Construction was carried out by McLaughlin & Harvey. Stannifer took ownership of the site, while it retained a 50% share of the proposed second phase. In 2004 The Westfield Group acquired Stannifer's parent (Chelsfield) and took control of the company's shares in Sprucefield Park.

Sprucefield Park (like the Sprucefield Centre) has faced major objections at almost every stage. Sainsbury's announced its move into Northern Ireland on 20 June 1995 and opened its first stores in 1997, however it would be eight years before its Sprucefield store was opened. An application for outline planning permission was submitted in July 1998 and final permission was granted in February 2001. The planning permission for the centre also included a multiplex cinema and a 150-bed hotel, however these have yet to be built. Lisnagarvey Hockey Club, which sold its pitches to Marks and Spencer for its development in 1989, had again to relocate when it sold its pitches to the developers of Sprucefield Park.

In December 2004 the B&Q store was extensively damaged by an incendiary device. The store was closed for approximately six months. In January 2005 another firebomb was discovered in the centre's Sainsbury's store, however this was successfully defused. Both incidents, and others such as the destruction of a Next store at Forestside Shopping Centre in Belfast, were blamed on dissident republicans.