THE countdown to Eden's grand opening in High Wycombe has started.

Builders have been working at the site of the 675,000 square foot shopping centre since September 2005, but now the project is nine short weeks from completion.

Today the Bucks Free Press is launching Countdown To Eden and will we be keeping readers up to date about how the shopping centre is coming along with weekly stories. Developer Multiplex says work on the £250million centre is bang on target with Eden set to throw open its doors for the first time on March 13.

And while pedestrians and drivers walking past the imposing site will have noticed the outside of the building's progress in leaps and bounds, other workers have been hard at work inside.

Fitters at department store House of Fraser have been busy inside the store for nine months and the new Marks & Spencer store is fast being filled up with furnishings and stock.

The new 12-screen cinema, which sits above the two-storey Marks & Spencer, is also being fitted out with seats and carpets and work has begun inside the ten-lane bowling alley, which will be accessed by two huge escalators. High Wycombe will become home to a host of new names when Eden opens in March including shoe shop Office and clothing stores H&M, Jane Norman, and Billabong. Remaining stores such as New Look, Next and River Island will also be moving into the new shopping centre.

Multiplex says some more names are also in the pipeline to sign up to the scheme, details of which should be announced next week.