Center Parcs

Center Parcs Europe NV (CPE)

Type	Public limited company (Naamloze vennootschap)
Industry	Leisure
Founded	1987
Founder	Piet Derksen
Headquarters	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Owner	Freehold: Blackstone Group Leasehold operator: Pierre & Vacances
Parent	Pierre & Vacances
Divisions	Center Parcs UK (associated, co-branded)
Website	CenterParcs

An original Center Parcs Cottage (named 'Villas' in UK resorts), designed by the Dutch architect Jaap Bakema.

Dutch Center Parcs entrance (at De Eemhof).

The Subtropical Swimming Paradise in Elveden Forest, Suffolk, UK.

Wild water rapids at Center Parcs Het Meerdal (NL).

The former church at CP Het Vennenbos. Because Derksen was a Catholic, he decided to build small churches at his parks. There was a similar church at Sherwood Forest which has since been converted into a Starbucks.

Lake at Het Heijderbos

Center Parcs is a European network of holiday villages that was founded in the Netherlands in 1968. It is operated by two separate companies: Center Parcs Europe (CPE), which is operated by Pierre & Vacances on mainland European sites owned by Blackstone Group; and Center Parcs UK, which runs holiday villages in Great Britain and Ireland owned by Brookfield Properties Corporation.

History

Dutch entrepreneur, Piet Derksen, started a sporting goods shop in 1953 at Lijnbaan, Rotterdam. Its name was 'Sporthuis Centrum', 'Sport House Centre'. It succeeded and Derksen expanded into 17 outlets across the Netherlands, and then added camping articles to the range.

In 1968, Derksen purchased woodland near Reuver so staff and customers could relax in small tents. The park, De Lommerbergen, was successful, the tents were quickly replaced by bungalows. In 1987, Center Parcs opened its first UK resort at Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. This brought the company into the sights of expanding brewer Scottish and Newcastle, which later bought the group.

Center Parcs UK

In 2001, Scottish and Newcastle sold the UK side of Center Parcs to venture capitalists Mid Ocean. In December 2003 they agreed to sell the UK resorts to Arbor for £285 million, a special vehicle set up to float Center Parcs UK on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market. However, after flotation in May 2006, Center Parcs UK Group PLC was sold to Blackstone Group, and was re-registered as a private company. The chief executive, Martin Dalby, said that the company might add a fifth village. Late in 2004 it was announced it would be built in Woburn in Bedfordshire. Planning permission was turned down but Center Parcs won on appeal.^[1]

Whinfell Forest was built and operated by the Rank Organisation, as the sole competition to Center Parcs in the UK. However, after a short period of a few years, Oasis, as Rank had named it, was sold to Center Parcs. Whinfell Forest is not of the same build type as the traditional Center Parcs. Whinfell Forest lodges are mainly two storey and many are set in clusters, rather than off-set terraces. This means guests in a cluster have direct view of adjacent lodges, with less privacy. Center Parcs have updated many Whinfell Forest lodges and continue to add new lodges of an identical style to new lodges at their other UK parks, so now there are also many villas at Whinfell Forest the same style as in Sherwood Forest, Elveden Forest or Longleat Forest.

All activities, at all parks, except swimming and playgrounds, are charged, per use, ranging from £5 to £80 per person.

Republic of Ireland

In July 2016, planning permission was granted by An Bord Pleanála for the first Center Parcs resort anywhere in Ireland, north or south. The 395-acre resort will be constructed in Newcastle Wood, a forest near Ballymahon, County Longford, within the Republic of Ireland. The resort will be called 'Longford Forest' and will open in 2019.

Center Parcs Europe

In 2003, Scottish & Newcastle sold the Continental European sites to a joint venture of Pierre & Vacances (P&V) and DBCP, a German investment group. This was given the name Center Parcs Europe (CPE). P&V owned Europe's largest (in terms of bed-count) bungalow-vacation-supplier, Gran Dorado Resorts, a Dutch former joint venture of Vendex,^[2] Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds, GAK and Philips Rentefonds. P&V brought Gran Dorado in the joint venture.

As CPE was based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the Dutch and European Commercial Competition Authority^[3] did not approve of combining Gran Dorado and Center Parcs, as it would effectively control the European market. After agreeing to a reduction in beds owned, CPE sold all but six Gran Dorado Resorts to Dutch Landal GreenParks.^[4] The remaining six parks were added to CenterParcs: Loohorst (NL), Port Zelande (NL), Zandvoort (NL), Weerterbergen (NL), Hochsauerland (D) and Heilbachsee (D).

After the sale, five of the six remaining Gran Dorado Resorts parks were rebranded Sea Spirit from Center Parcs or Free Life from Center Parcs. The Weerterbergen-Resort was sold to Roompot because of the cost of bringing it to standard.^[5] All original Center Parcs resorts in the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Germany were sub-branded CP Original. Having completed the integration and rebranding exercise, Pierre & Vacances bought DBCP out of the partnership.

In 2006, after Blackstone Group bought Center Parcs UK plc, Pierre & Vacances agreed a deal to sell all of the freeholds on the CPE sites, in returning for a recurring operational lease on the sites. This hence allowed a further rebranding exercise, with all resorts branded Center Parcs. In January 2009, Sunparks launched alongside Center Parcs in Europe, as a low-cost brand. Many of the former Gran Dorado resorts were rebranded in this exercise, but the sub brand was dropped in 2011 and the parks were rebranded to Center Parcs.

Operations and facilities

There are now 26 resorts in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany and the UK. No two villages are identical, however most share features that are common. Accommodation is in villas or bungalows, clustered in a park and surrounded by trees and bushes. An exception is Park Zandvoort, set among sand dunes. Certain resorts also provide hotel rooms. The first village had features that have stayed popular like the swimming pool, shops and restaurants. The first dome arrived in 1980, named Subtropical Swimming Paradise in UK resorts and Aqua Mundo in European resorts. A range of sporting activities is available, with restaurants, spas, saunas, and massage.

In 2009 Center Parcs Europe divided its parks into two brands: "Center Parcs", which includes the 5-star parks, and "Sunparks", which includes the 3- or 4-star parks. At the beginning of 2011 the company decided to rename most Sunparks as Center Parcs.

All resorts

Center Parcs UK and Center Parcs Europe consist of 26 resorts and Sunparks of 4. Also, there are six parks in development, and one park will be taken over from Landal Greenparks.

Country	Resort	City / Village	Region/County	Year opened	Added to portfolio	Details
Netherlands	Het Meerdal	America	Limburg	1971	-
Netherlands	De Huttenheugte	Dalen	Drenthe	1972	-
Netherlands	De Eemhof	Zeewolde	Flevoland	1980	-	The first Center Parcs resort to contain a Subtropical Swimming Paradise. Closed in May 2000 due to a fire that destroyed the central plaza area and Swimming Pool. Re-opened in March 2002 with a new Mediterranean market square and Aqua Mundo after extensive re-building.
Netherlands	De Kempervennen	Westerhoven	North Brabant	1983	-
Netherlands	Het Heijderbos	Heijen	Limburg	1986	-
Netherlands	Port Zélande	Ouddorp	South Holland	1990	2002
Netherlands	Limburgse Peel	America	Limburg	1980	2002	Formerly Sunparks Limburgse Peel
Netherlands	Zandvoort	Zandvoort	North Holland	1989	2002	Formerly Sunparks Zandvoort aan Zee
Netherlands	Sandur	Emmen	Drenthe	1999	2011	Taken over from Landal Greenparks; Formerly Sunparks Sandur Drenthe
Belgium	Erperheide	Peer	Limburg	1981	-
Belgium	De Vossemeren	Lommel	Limburg	1987	-
Germany	Eifel	Gunderath	Rhineland-Palatinate	1979	2002	Formerly Sunparks Eifel
Germany	Nordseeküste	Tossens	Lower Saxony	1992	2002	Formerly Sunparks Nordseeküste
Germany	Park Hochsauerland	Medebach	North Rhine-Westphalia	1994	2002
Germany	Bispinger Heide	Bispingen	Lower Saxony	1995	-
Germany	Bostalsee	Nohfelden	Saarland	2013	-
France	Les Bois-Francs	Verneuil-sur-Avre	Upper Normandy	1988	-
France	Les Hauts de Bruyères	Chaumont-sur-Tharonne	Centre-Val de Loire	1993	-
France	Le Lac d'Ailette	Chamouille	Picardy	2007	-
France	Les Trois Forêts	Hattigny	Lorraine	2010	-
France	Bois aux daims	Les Trois-Moutiers, Morton	Nouvelle-Aquitaine	2015	-
United Kingdom	Sherwood Forest	Rufford (near Mansfield)	Nottinghamshire	1987	-
United Kingdom	Elveden Forest	Elveden	Suffolk	1989	-	Closed in April 2002 after a fire destroyed the plaza area, though the subtropical swimming paradise was unharmed. Re-opened again in July 2003 after a major re-build to the village square which separates the new Plaza and Sports Plaza.
United Kingdom	Longleat Forest	Warminster	Wiltshire	1994	-
United Kingdom	Whinfell Forest	Penrith	Cumbria	1997	2002	Formerly Oasis, bought from Center Parcs UK's competitor, Rank Organisation.
United Kingdom	Woburn Forest	Millbrook	Bedfordshire	2014	-
Parks from the Sunparks Brand
Belgium	Sunparks Oostduinkerke	Oostduinkerke	West Flanders	1981	2007
Belgium	De Haan	De Haan	West Flanders	1989	2007
Belgium	Sunparks Ardennen	Vielsalm	Luxembourg	1992	2007	Formerly Sunparks Vielsalm
Belgium	Sunparks Kempense Meren	Mol	Antwerpen	1994	2007
Parks in development
Germany	Allgäu	Leutkirch	Baden Württemberg	2018	-
France	La Forêt de Chambaran	Roybon	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	2017	-
France	Forêt du Rousset	Le Rousset	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté	2019	-
France	Forêt de Poligny	Poligny	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté	2019	-
France	Domaine du Papetier	Pindères, Beauziac	Nouvelle Aquitaine	2019	-
Ireland	Longford Forest	Ballymahon	Longford	2019	-

• In case of the former Gran Dorado Resorts, the 2002 "Added to portfolio"-date refers to the year these resorts were brought into the joint venture, although they were not re-branded as Center Parcs until 2003.

Three former Center Parcs sites were sold because they could not be expanded. They are now part of the Landal greenparks operation; they still continue to be used and have had some refurbishment:

Country	Resort	City / Village	Region/County	Year opened	Year Sold
Netherlands	De Lommerbergen	Reuver	Limburg	1968	1996
Netherlands	Het Vennenbos	Hapert	North Brabant	1970	1994
Netherlands	De Berkenhorst	Kootwijk	Gelderland	1975	1990

Name differences

See also

• Other large European indoor sub-tropical leisure village: Tropical Islands Resort

References

External links

• Center Parcs UK official website
• Center Parcs Europe official website
• Aqua Sana, the self-contained spa at Center Parcs