THE keys to the new £90 million retail park in York have been handed over from builders to shopfitters.

The Vangarde Retail Park which will contain John Lewis, Next and Marks & Spencer shops once fully fitted out has been under construction for 36 weeks and has been finished on time.

Figures released by Caddick Construction, who built the new Monks Cross park, said eight litres of sun cream had been used on site, 20,000 cups of tea and 9,000 bacon sandwiches had been consumed, while enough rubble to fill 73 Olympic-sized swimming pools had been excavated during construction.

Andrew Murray, managing director at Caddick Construction, said: “It’s been a pleasure working on the flagship Vangarde Retail Park and it’s a great achievement to have completed work on the main retail units. The statistics the build has provided really highlight the manpower and hard work that has gone into the project.”

The retail park is expected to open in April next year, bringing 1,000 new jobs to York and helping to fund the new 6,000-seat Community Stadium for York City FC and York City Knights.