Massy Worthing demolition begins, 200 new spaces coming

Shoppers at the new Massy Worthing supercentre will soon have 200 more parking spaces. Phase 2 of the Worthing Redevelopment Project got underway this week, with demolition of the old building set to begin Wednesday night.

Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Massy Stores (Barbados) Ltd Dionne Clarke-Emtage made the announcement during a press briefing held in the parking lot of the Worthing supermarket on Wednesday.

Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Massy Stores (Barbados) Ltd Dionne Clarke-Emtage and Operations Manager Kim Forde and other executives. (Photo Credit: Lourianne Graham)

This move follows the official opening this month of the new supermarket, built behind the more than 50-year-old building in Worthing, Christ Church.

Clarke-Emtage did not disclose the cost of the expansion project, but said: “Putting a number to it does not replace what it’s going to do for the comfort of the customer, but I will not say that it’s cheap either; we are happy to continue to invest in the community and to continue to invest in Barbados and ensure that our customers have the best experience possible.

“So the cost, while it was heavy and is heavy for us, does not replace what the effect is going to be after its completion.”  

The Massy executive also said the expansion is a response to customers asking for more parking and the need to take down the old building.

“The complaints, to be transparent, have been about parking, and that’s why we’re pushing ahead on this because we do recognise that we have reduced parking space. We’ve had to hoard the front of the building. We’ve had to hoard the side of the building of the old Worthing store. So we do have reduced parking, which is why we really need to push through because that is the major complaint that we’re getting right now in terms of parking and traffic flow.”

She said the demolition will take place over four nights, from Wednesday, September 2, to Saturday, September 5, between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. The project will also add new drainage.

“This is controlled demolition throughout the night for the next four nights. I want to just stress that we’re doing this at night to minimise as much disruption to the traffic and to keep all the persons passing, walking towards our supermarkets, which will continue to remain open, safe and secure.”

She acknowledged that the work could cause some disturbance but said doing it at night would minimise disruption and make things safer.

“The concerns for this environment and its surroundings that we’ve undertaken would be obviously noise, dust, and then of course safety. For the dust control, which we think would be the biggest piece, we’re going to be consistently wetting the area. We’re going to be installing sprinkler systems that will consistently just keep the dust levels down as we move the dust.”

Clarke-Emtage gave the assurance that no heavy drilling will take place at night.

Throughout the four-night demolition, the supermarket will remain open during the day.

Following the demolition and other redevelopment works, the new car park will be constructed, with the new parking expected to be ready by the end of November, ahead of Christmas.

Phase 2A will include the repaving of the existing car park.

“We have what we call Phase 2A, which is the repaving of this existing car park,” Clarke-Emtage said. “That’s stretching from the post office right down to Peronne Village. That’s scheduled to be finished in January.”

The expansion has led Massy to hire more workers.

“We have just about 200 odd, including the external contractors as well. I would say it’s about 30, 40 more than before; that includes external plus the internal hires that we’d have to do.”

The Massy executive revealed that since the grand opening less than a month ago, more customers have been coming in, so finishing the parking lots quickly is important.

“We’ve seen an increase in traffic flow,” she said. “We know that the biggest hindrance right now is parking, so that’s one of the reasons why we’ve also hired additional staff to help with the parking, to help with the checkout, so that we can get customers in and out.”

(LG)