CONSTRUCTION has begun on a new £9m retail store set to create hundreds of jobs.

The Next Home and Garden Centre at Wildern Mill in Hedge End is due to open next spring and will feature clothes, homeware, a garden centre and a cafe.

The three-storey building, being created by construction company Midas Group, will have a floorspace of 8,310 square metres with internal mezzanine levels and will be constructed from primarily high quality Germansourced Dura beige stone and expensive glass panelling.

As part of the scheme, workers will create car parking and an access road as part of a wider plan to redevelop the old Wildern Mill site next to the Hedge End Retail Park, which includes a separate contract for 41 new homes developed by Linden Homes.

Work is expected to be complete by April next year.

The Midas Group, which provides construction and property services across the south-west, won the contract to design and build the Next store, as well as fitting it out internally, after successfully bidding against five other firms.

The Midas Construction side of the company is leading the building work before the Midas Retail division manages the shop fit-out.

Around 120 construction workers will be involved and Next will be looking to employ 250 staff for the store.

The store will use a number of ecofriendly new technologies, including large solar panels fitted to the roof.

Crushed materials from the demolition of the old Wildern Mill buildings on the site have also been used in part of the construction to ensure building materials are reused and recycled wherever possible.

Paul Strachan, southern divisional director for Midas Construction, said: “Midas is delighted to be creating such a dramatic store for people living locally to enjoy using, which will also enhance the environment.

“The materials being used externally such as the glass, masonry and German-soured stone are of a very high quality, and mean there is a very impressive feel to the entire development.”

The Midas Group has also been invited to look at another Next Home and Garden Centre being created in High Wycombe in summer 2014.