Kuwaiti-backed $3.6bn London theme park (Via ArabianBusiness)

Kuwait Upto Date • May 3, 2015 • 0 Comments

Kuwaiti-owned London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) has released new images, details and a scale model of the $3.6 billion theme park it is developing in Kent, in Southern England, and which is due to open in 2020.

London Paramount Entertainment Resort, which was launched in October 2012 and will be located on an 872-acre brownfield site on Kent’s Swanscombe peninsula, just 17 minutes on the train from Central London, is due to start construction in autumn 2016.

Kuwaiti European Holding (KEH) Group bought LRCH two years ago and has been financing the plans ever since.

And in March LRCH announced that the British Film Institute (BFI) had joined the project to provide strategic cultural counsel. The BFI was set up in 1933 and it maintains the world’s largest film archive, containing more than 50,000 fiction films, over 100,000 non-fiction titles and around 625,000 television programmes.

In terms of the finances, Abdulla Al Humaidi, Group CEO of KEH Group, told Arabian Business earlier this year he was confident that, unlike rival Disneyland Paris across the English Channel, London Paramount Entertainment Resort will be profitable.

“We are not putting in the entire capital. We are funding the entire project until 2017 and we have already funded it for the last two years and will continue to do so until the planning is achieved. Then we will go to the markets for further funding. We believe it is a £2.5bn project and we believe it will be profitable from year two of the project.”

Source : Arabian Business

London Paramount will be the first of its kind in the UK and is expected to attract on average 40,000 visitors on a typical day. With a wide range of attractions and entertainment, there will be something for everyone.

A world-class theme park
A 1,500-seat theatre with regular ‘West End Quality’ shows
Indoor event space to host conferences and exhibitions, but also with potential for musical
and sporting events
A range of hotels with a combined total of 5,000 on-site bedrooms
An art-house style cinema and nightclubs
Food and beverage outlets and retail
One of the largest indoor water parks in Europe
Back of house and guest service facilities
Creative business space to provide a central hub for the UK creative industry
Transport improvements including a new dual carriageway access road between the A2 and the
Entertainment Resort
A green network to include areas of environmental enhancement and wildlife habitat creation beside the River Thames
A range of connectivity improvements including public footpaths and cycle routes along the River Thames and enhancements to the existing jetty on the river to facilitate access by boat
14,000 car park spaces
Enhancements to flood defence works
Landscaping including water features such as ponds and canals
Waste management and power generation facilities
Emergency and security features