Westfield Mall of the Netherlands, situated in Leidschendam-Voorburg between The Hague and Leiden, is the largest shopping mall in the country.
The pre-existing Leidsenhage shopping centre at the site was redeveloped into the Westfield Mall of the Netherlands by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield with an investment of approximately €570m ($644m).
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Initially opened in 1974, the Leidsenhage shopping centre underwent its first renovation in 1998.
Construction on the recent redevelopment project began in 2016, and the expanded shopping mall officially opened in March 2021.
Location
Westfield Mall of the Netherlands is located in the Randstad area, known as the economic hub of the country and one of the most urban areas in Europe.
The site is located within five kilometres of The Hague and is close to Amsterdam and Utrecht. It is accessible via three highways and three tram lines.
Westfield Mall of the Netherlands details
The remodelling expanded the shopping centre from 70,000m² (753,473ft² ) to 200,000² with 117,000m² (12,59,378ft²) of floor space, featuring 300 stores, restaurants and entertainment options. The mall has 40,000m² of newly constructed area.
The building features multiple entrances, one of which is the entrance to the Dining Plaza, which is directly connected to the main outdoor parking area and strikingly features black marble terraces adorned with greenery. Inside, a curving figure-of-eight loop guides visitors through the four key spaces: the Central Plaza, the Dining Plaza, the Designers Gallery and the Fresh Food Market. It takes the visitors on a 1.8km journey filled with a wide range of attractions, stores, services and sensory experiences, with colours, sights, scents, sounds and more to discover.
Throughout the journey, smaller key spaces are strategically placed, such as play areas, benches with phone charging points, and “island” stores, ensuring a varied and engaging customer experience every few metres.
The Central Plaza of the mall links the different wings of the shopping centre, forming an elliptical ceiling created by 700 individual wooden ribs that weave around the central skylight.
The mall features digital screens upon entering and marks the beginning of the 49 digital screens along the route to the parking spaces. In the central square of the mall, there is a 20m² rotating screen and 21 digital totems. 17 of these totems are strategically placed inside the mall, while four are located outside to reach all potential customers. The area features the latest shopping trends, boutiques and pop-up stores.
Besides offering places to eat, drink and shop, the renovated shopping centre has also introduced new experiences and services, ranging from a museum and cinema to a car wash and dog hotel.
The mall features five parking areas, including 4,000 free car parking spaces and space for 1,500 bicycles.
Westfield Mall of the Netherlands design
The design for the Westfield Mall of the Netherlands was inspired by a silk shawl, connecting formerly scattered buildings with a facade that resembles a shawl draped over a body.
The flowing white lines of the facade define the outside of the mall, while the closed areas feature wooden panelling and a green wall to enhance views of the interior.
The mall is designed with windows that are twice as high to display items attractively. The materials used for the facades are unique to each building and are designed to complement the brand’s aesthetic.
A simple palette of white marble with fluid black lines enhances the unbroken spatial quality of the shopping galleries and provides a neutral backdrop for all the colourful retail experiences.
The dining and entertainment area’s elegant gold hanging decorations are a prominent centrepiece, consisting of thirty golden curtains made up of 12,251,200 links and covering a total surface area of 3,020m².
Westfield Mall of the Netherlands shopping features
A food market called ‘FRESH!’ occupies a 2,500m² area of the mall. It features more than 34 outlets and suppliers, including Albert Heijn XL, Jumbo Foodmarkt and the Vietnamese street food outlet, Saigon Street.
Major tenants at the mall include brands such as Zara, occupying 3,656m², Bershka occupying 1,024m², Pull&Bear, occupying 874m² and Stradivarius, occupying 887m².
In early 2021, brands including Nike, JD Sports, Snipes, Guess Active Wear and Blitz Jewels also opened outlets at the shopping centre.
The Designers Gallery is a modern take on the traditional Dutch shopping street, highlighting young designers in the Netherlands. Situated below the dining plaza, it features boutique stores spanning an area of 3,000m².
It includes a mix of designer and lifestyle brands such as Hugo Boss, Distrikt, Hutspot, Ace & Tate and Skins Cosmetics.
Entertainment options
Gamestate, a specialist in arcade games, has a flagship store spanning two floors in the mall. O’Learys, a unique and cosy sports bar, offers a modern place to watch any sport of choice.
The mall comprises a 1,500m² indoor playground, Peppa Pig World of Play, the first such location in the Netherlands. Visitors can explore more than 12 different play zones, based on the series of the world’s most famous piglet, Peppa Pig. There is also a Peppa Pig shop in the same building, in addition to the indoor playground.
The mall features Kinepolis Leidschendam, a cinema complex with 11 state-of-the-art screening rooms and more than 1,600 seats, enhanced by new technologies MX4D, Laser ULTRA and razor-sharp image with Dolby Atmos sound, and Cozy Seating. It offers a complete sensory experience with moving chairs, weather simulations and scent effects.
The mall includes a TikTok-themed selfie museum known as the Youseum, which allows people to create shareable videos across 18 rooms and 25 installations.
The centre also hosts events such as live music performances, workshops and children’s activities.
Dining options
The mall introduced Eat Theater, a brand new food court featuring a mix of local and well-known eateries. It is a fusion of a Mediterranean market, an Arabic souk, an Asian grocery store and a French wine cellar.
The Dining Plaza, located on the upper floor of the shopping centre, comprises ten restaurants such as The Butcher and pizza hotspot Toni Loco, along with even kiosks, and provides direct access to the Kinepolis cinema complex.
New food and beverage outlets at the shopping centre include The Chocolate Company, Nespresso, Neuhaus and De Pindakaaswinkel.
Sustainable features of the mall
The mall has achieved a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology Netherlands (BREAAM-NL) sustainability certificate by adopting sustainable methods.
It is designed to save energy, with an aquifer thermal energy storage system and LED lighting.
Excess heat from the shops is re-used, and sawtooth roofs minimise direct sunlight, thereby reducing heat.
The centre includes 12 birdhouses, ten bat boxes and a bee hotel. The facade features 25,000 plants forming a green wall, which reduces particulate matter. It offers 103 charging stations in car parks and wind energy in public spaces. All the waste from the mall is 100% recycled to produce energy.
Contractors involved
MVSA Architects designed the mall, while Diepenhorst de Vos and Partners (DVP) served as the project manager. Van Rossum Raadgevend Ingenieurs provided construction services for the project.
Demolition contractor Vlasman performed the demolition work, while Otis was contracted for the installation of vertical transportation.
Energy Technology was contracted for electrical installations and Roodenburg was contracted for mechanical installations.
Trigion installed the sprinklers, while Hoogendoorn was contracted for sanitary installation.
Buko was contracted for construction logistics, C2N was the BREEAM-NL assessor and Ballast Nedam was responsible for the shell construction. Van den Berg Bouwkundigen, a subsidiary of the Van den Berg Groep, provided technical services related to the facade and roof shell of the building. TGM was the facade specialist for the mall.
Desa Engineering Construction carried out the formwork, concrete casting and placement of precast units at the site.
Techniplan Adviseurs designed the technical installations, including the transport and parking facilities.
VISIO Construction was contracted for reinforced concrete works and the installation of prefabricated items, while Sterk Midden Nederland secured the earthworks and sheet piling contract.
Ocean Outdoor Nederland installed digital totems for advertising at the mall.
BIMlink was responsible for all data processing during the design, construction and management phases, while abcnova was engaged to provide quality assurance and project management services. RYSE provided quality control and project management services for the project.
Kwakman Afbouw installed 13,000m² of acoustic ceilings in the building. It was also responsible for the work on luxury toilets and other public areas. Gielissen Bedrijven performed interior works for the food market FRESH!
