Ikea is delaying the opening of its Oxford Street store to fix leaks in the building’s basement

Ikea has postponed the opening of its Oxford Street store to fix leaks in the building’s basement.

It is the second time the opening of the store, which was previously home to Topshop’s London flagship, has been postponed.

Ingka Investment, the retail group’s investment arm, bought the Grade II listed building at 214 Oxford Street after Topshop owner Arcadia fell into administration.

Work on the site started in 2022 and initial plans are to open in autumn 2023.

However, last year Ikea revealed that this date had been pushed back to autumn 2024 due to the extent of the renovation work.

Delay: Ikea says the store won’t open until spring 2025 due to the ‘hugely complex’ nature of the renovation

On Friday, the Swedish furniture and home goods giant said the store will not open until spring 2025 due to the “hugely complex” nature of the renovation. It said work on all seven floors of the building had made “significant progress” but that the process had encountered “unexpected circumstances.”

Ikea said it recently discovered the need for unforeseen additional work on the lower of two basement floors to check a water leak. Work is in progress.

Peter Jelkeby, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer of Ikea UK, said: ‘The historic nature of the building makes its careful renovation more complex, but we want to reassure Londoners that we are as excited to open the store as they are to doing. visit it.’