Ikea has pushed back the opening of its Oxford Street store to spring 2025 – about 18 months later than initially planned – after problems with water leaking into the basement. The site, previously occupied by Topshop, had been scheduled to open this autumn and that date had already been put back by a full year. The company said the latest delay came because “a need for unforeseen additional work on the lower of the two basement levels was recently discovered to control water ingress, which is now under way”. Ikea’s parent group completed the purchase of the site, once the jewel in Sir Philip Green’s retail empire, for an estimated £378m in early 2022 but renovations have been dogged by complications. The store’s opening is seen as a key part of hopes for a revival of Oxford Street, where visitor numbers have fallen since the Covid pandemic and a number of sites are either vacant or occupied by cheap American candy shops. Peter van der Poel, the managing director of Ingka Investments, part of Ikea’s parent group, which now owns the building, said: “Ikea Oxford Street is a one-of-a-kind project, involving the sensitive and sustainable upgrade of a Grade...