Managing director Siep Hoeksma is relaxed in his high-rise London office, but he's aware that only a few miles away the site could be approaching chaos. "The last few weeks are the worst part of a shopping centre project," he says ruefully. "It's the time when there's a real risk of losing control of the project: shopfitters don't care about anything but their own unit and the place can easily become a mess."

It helps that he's not planning a grand opening for Enfield, which takes some of the pressure off. Instead he expects the scheme to open in phases in the run-up to Christmas. "By Christmas it's going to be a very nice extension to the town centre," he says.

Hoeksma admits that retailers have left it late to agree deals - a feature of the current market everywhere - and says that fitting out is getting more and more complicated.

"But the one thing that still surprises me is the completely mad legal system," he says. "I can't believe the amount of time it takes with the lawyers - in Holland a lease is just five pages long."

Not that Hoeksma's been tempted to challenge established UK practice. "We find ways adapt to local rules, play the local game," he says. And he asserts: "We are a UK company - I'm the only guy from Holland in the business."

And for all his gripes, Hoeksma seems genuinely fond of his adopted home. "I've been here since 1995 when I was sent over to find some business in the UK," he explains. "First I was here once a fortnight, then once a week and pretty soon full-time."

And find some business he certainly has. ING's first shopping centre scheme was the 400,000 sq ft Midsummer Place in Milton Keynes which was developed in partnership with veteran shopping centre specialist Ian Pearce and opened in 2000.

The project was pre-sold to USS and this has typified ING Real Estate Development's approach as a trader- developer. Although PalaceXchange is opening now, it was pre-sold 14 months previously to a consortium of Irish investors for £80m. And next year ING will complete the 580,000 sq ft St Stephens development in Hull. This scheme has already been pre-sold to British Land.

strength in diversity

There is another side to ING's property operations in the UK, ING Real Estate Investment, which runs the ING Britannica portfolio of shopping centres. Headed by Ian Cockburn, this is based in the City of London, to stay close to the financial community, while Hoeksma and his development business is based in the West End, traditional home of the property business.

Hoeksma says there's no imperative for the development business to create stock for the asset management arm, although the two are in fact working together on a scheme in the centre of Chester. "We have a good working relationship but if they want one of our schemes they'll have to pay the market price," he says.

One noticeable feature of ING's approach to shopping centres is its sheer diversity. There is no one template that it imposes on projects and already it has developed a traditional town centre scheme in Milton Keynes and an outlet mall at Dalton Park near Sunderland. And St Stephens in Hull will be one of the new generation of 'out-of-town in-town' schemes, providing big box retail space but on a city-centre site.

"We're very research-driven and we like to spend time getting to know a local market," explains Hoeksma. "There's not a standard product you can cut and paste and every one needs a local product and a local solution." He says research was the key in Hull. "We established there was massive leakage with people going as far as Leeds, Sheffield and even York to shop," he explains. "The city was crying out for a new shopping centre.

"We're very quality-driven. We like to build schemes we can come back to in ten years' time with confidence." With that in mind, he's pleased Milton Keynes is bearing the test of time. "That has a lot to do with the design and the materials," he says. "Short-term successes never work. They're nice for the profit and loss account for one year but it'll backfire on you."

The Netherlands is a relatively small and crowded market, and for this reason ING was forced to look abroad for business relatively early if it was to continue growing. It is now the biggest portfolio asset manager in the world, and this gives it an international dimension other developers can only aspire to.

"ING has an international platform to share experience," Hoeksma explains. "We're active in every country in Europe, especially the big markets of Spain, France and Germany. If a way of managing a scheme works in Spain, then why nor try it here?"

international trends

In shopping centre terms this means the company has a direct relationship with the big international brands like H&M and Inditex. It's significant that Inditex sited its first UK Zara store in ING's Milton Keynes scheme. And Hoeksma has high hopes of more new business now that Cortifiel has announced its intention to enter the UK market.

This also means the company has been quick to spot international trends, like the growth of mixed-use development. "I didn't build a single scheme during my 25 years in Holland that wasn't mixed-use," Hoeksma says.

That experience means the company was not afraid of incorporating residential into its schemes, at a time when UK-based developers were still nervous. The UK portfolio now contains 40 per cent retail and 40 per cent residential, with the rest made up of offices and industrial.

Just as PalaceXchange opens, ING will be putting in a planning application for a bold scheme to develop several high-rise residential towers, designed by architectural superstar Frank Gehry, amid the genteel terraces of Hove.

In the decade since Hoeksma arrived in the UK ING's profile has changed radically. Initially he had to explain what the company did, but now the orange and white lifebelt of the ING Direct consumer banking arm is recognised everywhere.

Looking forward, Hoeksma can see a firm development pipeline stretching almost a decade ahead. The Northgate scheme in Chester will provide 440,000 sq ft of retail on the site of the existing Forum centre, but Hoeksma doesn't anticipate completion before 2011 or 2012.

In Stevenage, ING and Stanhope have been selected for a massive scheme to bring the New Town into the 21st century, with 650,000 sq ft of additional retail space together with 1,000 residential units, civic buildings and transport improvements.

Most recently ING won a significant victory in Belfast when the Royal Exchange scheme was given the nod by the government ahead of rival proposals by Westfield to extend the existing Castlecourt centre. The 800,000-sq ft scheme will include 420,000 sq ft of retail space, but it will only begin when Victoria Square has had a chance to bed in. This means completion will not before 2011 at the earliest.

Significantly here, ING is effectively working as development manager on behalf of the landowner William Ewart. "It's the first example in the UK of ING working as a fee developer," says Hoeksma. "I won't exclude doing it again, but it always depends on the scheme - it has to be something that's going to work and which reflects well on us. After all, we're here for the long term."

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