The multi-million pound development at Intu Watford has reached a key milestone with a “topping out” ceremony taking place.

Topping out marks the highest point of the new extension being reached, with a ceremonial piece of concrete laid on the roof.

This is a tradition in the construction industry and represents a major step towards the progress at intu.

For centuries, builders have celebrated the moment the building structure reaches it's topmost point. The age-old tradition, originally conceived to bestow good luck on a building and ward off evil spirits, is now more commonly recognised as an opportunity to thank the workforce and celebrate progress made.

The £180 million project, which is due to be completed in January 2019, will transform the shopping centre into a leisure space as well as a retail hub.

A nine screen IMAX cinema and a ten pin Hollywood Bowl bowling alley will be new additions alongside ten restaurants and flagship store Debenhams, which is scheduled to open next Autumn.

Superdry have also confirmed there will be a store on the development site which was Charter Place. The likes of H&M and New Look are set to relocate to the new part of the development.

Contractors Laing O’Rourke’s head of UK building, Liam Cummins, said: “Having only started on-site in the middle of last year it’s great to see the progress made by the team in reaching this key milestone.

“We look forward to the final phase of this transformational project in the coming months.”

intu Watford general manager Vicki Costello said: I’m really excited that this time next year we will be nearly there as a centre for retail and leisure. It’s incredibly fun and we can’t wait.”

More than 7,000 pieces of steel, equivalent to 326 double decker buses, has been used during the 129 week programme, which began in March 2016. And 13,500m cubed of concrete has been used, roughly equivalent to the volume of five Olympic sized swimming pools.