City centre opening 'on schedule'

The extension has cost £340m

The opening of the multi-million pound Westfield shopping centre in Derby should go smoothly, bosses have said.

With just a day to go before the doors open on the million square feet extension, managers confirmed there were just "finishing touches" to go.

The £340m extension of the old Eagle centre has 150 shops and could attract an extra seven million shoppers.

The building opens at 0800 BST on Tuesday, with an official ceremony starting at 1100 BST.

Contingency plans

Some city residents have criticised the scale of the building and its impact on the skyline.

But developers said the centre, which includes a cinema and food hall, would be a huge boost to the area.

Derby's Westfield Centre manager, Kevin Duffy, said he was pleased such a large project was going so well.

"We are ahead of schedule, with no problems at all and everything is under control.

"We have a number of contingency plans - you name it we have a contingency plan for it - but we don't expect anything to go wrong.

"This has been masterminded for the last six years, we have crossed every 't' and dotted every 'i'."