Kinnersley Kent wins Dublin work

Kinnersley Kent is creating interiors for House of Fraser’s Dublin store, which looks set to spearhead the upmarket retailer’s expansion drive into Europe.

House of Fraser chief executive John Coleman says the opening of its first Ireland store, scheduled for autumn 2003, is ‘another example of the success of our strategy [in] securing new department stores in key locations’.

The retailer is understood to be looking to expand in mainland Europe. The Dublin store is being talked about as a ‘stepping stone’ into Germany, the Benelux countries, Italy and Spain.

Kinnersley Kent won the interiors job without a pitch, based on its previous work with House of Fraser. According to a House of Fraser spokeswoman, it is too early to provide design details.

The House of Fraser store will be located in the South Dublin suburb of Dundrum, across five floors. It is estimated to cost between £16m and £18m to build.

It will sit within a development including a multiplex cinema, restaurants, hotels, office space and leisure facilities. The agents are in talks with other ‘flagship tenants’ to try to secure interest, says a House of Fraser spokeswoman.

Kinnersley Kent recently created House of Fraser’s ‘underground, high fashion’ brand Therapy, as part of the consultancy’s transformation of the former DH Evans site in London’s Oxford Street (DW 27 October 2000).

The consultancy has also redesigned House of Fraser stores in Reading and at the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent.