Residents would have noticed work crews on site since mid-January in preparation for demolition and excavation works to begin off Mitchell Drive this week.

First to be constructed will be the new Dan Murphy’s store on the site next to KFC and Pizza Hut.

The new store will be one of more than 225 specialty retailers in the revamped shopping complex, including anchor tenants David Jones, Big W, a new Target and both supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles.

“Stockland Green Hills is one of the most productive shopping centres in Australia and we absolutely want to carry this momentum through the redevelopment,” Centre Manager at Stockland, Chris Travers said.

“We are absolutely delighted to get underway after all of the detailed planning that has gone into this project over the last couple of years.”

As part of phase one of the redevelopment a new pedestrian path will be constructed from Molly Morgan Drive alongside The George Tavern.

Shoppers can expect changes to the car park including restrictions on vehicle and pedestrian access between the northern and western car parks.

“We’ve undertaken similar, large scale redevelopments at many of the other shopping centres in our portfolio in recent years,” Mr Travers said.

“There will, of course, be some dramatic changes to the centre taking shape in stages over the next two years, we’ll be working hard to minimise disruptions to customers and retail trade throughout our schedule of works.

“We will do this by segregating each phase of construction to minimise any disruption to our customers and retailers.”

With the Greenhills shopping complex about to turn into a construction site for at least two years, Stockland has invited the public to attend an information drop-in session on Wednesday, February 3 between 5.30pm and 7.30pm.

Stockland’s centre management and development team will host the session on the concourse outside Best&Less.

“Maitland City Council, our neighbours and the local community have been incredibly supportive of our plans to undertake this redevelopment,” he said.

“We’ll continue to keep everyone informed about the various stages of construction as we progress the development.”

The shopping centre and all retailers will remain open for business and trading as normal throughout this first stage of work.

The project is due for completion mid-2018.