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A multi-million pound expansion of the Designer Outlet in Ashford will be fully open by early November.
Shopping centre chiefs are just weeks away from cutting the ribbon on the £90 million extension, which will see 50 new stores added to the site.
A launch event is set to take place on Thursday, November 7 - two years after diggers first moved onto the site in autumn 2017 to begin construction work.
YO! Sushi, Pret a Manger and Under Armour are some of the new names which have already started operating in the newly-constructed extension, but the remaining stores will join them within the coming weeks.
The majority of new arrivals will open next Thursday (October 3), including UGG, Dr. Martens, Starbucks, Joules, Dune and Karl Lagerfeld.
It is understood that Polo Ralph Lauren - which is already based at the centre - will move into a two-storey shop in the new extension on Thursday.
Comptoir Libanais is set to start trading in one of the largest retail units in the brand new food piazza early next month.
The 250-seat restaurant will offer a Lebanese cuisine to visitors, with halal, vegan and vegetarian options available.
About 30 new staff have been busy preparing for the restaurant’s launch over the past weeks.
Assistant manager Julie Fogg said: “We will be serving healthy food made with fresh fruit and vegetables to eat in or takeaway.
“There are a lot of Comptoir Libanais restaurants in London but this is a new concept for Ashford and we are looking forward to introducing it.”
As part of the expansion project, a £1.5 million plant installation will prove the centrepiece.
The ‘living wall’ display will feature about 120,000 plants, making it the largest living wall in Europe.
A leading company in the field - Biotecture - has designed, grown and installed the greenery, which will stretch to the length of 60 double-decker buses.
Raised in the firm’s West Sussex nurseries, amongst the species will be Fortune Spindles, Boxleaf Honeysuckles, Ivy and Violas.
The selection has been hand-picked to shine all year round, and to bloom with the whole colour spectrum.
According to Biotecture, green wall systems can improve viewers’ moods, reduce air pollution and aid biodiversity.
The 100,000 sq ft extension - one of Ashford Borough Council’s ‘Big 8’ - is expected to create 500 jobs.
As well as the new shops, 725 new car parking spaces and a £400,000 interactive children’s play area, which opened in May, have been added to the site.
But the extension work hasn’t been without controversy as contractors were forced to close Newtown Road for months to allow for the expansion.
The closures sparked months of delays - including a 32-week stint between April and November last year.
The roadworks, which saw pedestrian walkways upgraded among the improvements, were carried out by Walker Construction and McLaren Construction - the latter hired as the main contractor on the Designer Outlet’s £90 million expansion.
Last October, contractors began removing the tented structure above the former food court to make way for the extension.
In July, six illegal workers were arrested following a raid at the outlet.
The men - five from India and one from Ukraine - were arrested after immigration officers executed a warrant at the construction site.
The Home Office said it was “acting on intelligence”.
Some of the new names set to arrive include:
