Sited over 150 feet down in an abandoned chalk quarry, Bluewater sits on 240 acres (100 hectares) of land directly adjacent to the Darenth Woods across Watling Street to the south. Twenty-six acres of lakes, a host of gardens, walks, tracks, garden pavilions, and fountains bring this landscape into the heart of the retail scheme.

The triangular shaped malls provide an uninterrupted circuit through nearly 2 million square feet of retail. Each of the three malls is connected to Bluewater Park through three leisure villages that have become the primary gateways for those who enter Bluewater. The surface carparks have been planted with orchards of pear, apple, and cherry trees. Materials for the buildings have all been selected so that the character of the architecture looks as if it were ‘carved out of chalk’ and presents itself as an image of a modern archaeological dig.