Work to start on Asda in Inverness
CONSTRUCTION of the £25 million Asda supermarket will begin on Monday.
The store in Slackbuie will be the company’s first in the Highlands and is set to create around 400 full and part-time jobs.
Enabling works — the first part of construction — will involve diversion of a burn at the site, ground and road works.
Development of the 40,000 sq ft store is set to start in November.
Staff will be recruited in summer next year, ahead of the store opening in autumn 2012.
"We are excited to now be taking the first real steps towards opening the new store," said Philip Bartram, the firm’s property communications manager.
"The new Asda store is set to greatly improve the supermarket shopping offerings in Inverness, which can only benefit local consumers, and the store is also set to deliver a significant economic boost that will benefit the area for years to come.
"As welcome as I hope this news will be to many within the community, I would assure all local residents that Asda takes construction of our new stores very seriously, and we will always work hard to minimise any disruption within the local area during this time.
"Finally, I would like to thank all those local people that have steadfastly supported Asda’s plans for a new store in the Highlands over the past three and a half years.
"The support of the local community and local representatives has been vital in helping to deliver the new store and we are looking forward to welcoming shoppers, from across the Highlands, to our new store next summer."
A large car park will have 494 bays and a petrol filling station will be on site, as well as some smaller retail units.
It follows an exhaustive process, which included a public inquiry and traffic management agreement, before finally getting the go ahead.
Meanwhile, supermarket rivals Tesco are set to open their fourth city store in around four weeks at Holm and Sainsbury’s is on schedule to open its first Highland store on the outskirts of Nairn in August.
