New homes, a ‘creative quarter’ and a new Town Square are all part of R&F Properties’ exciting plans for Queen’s Square.
The developers revealed their proposals for phase two of the work to rejuvenate the central Croydon site at two public consultation events held at TMRW on 3rd and 6th November.
R&F purchased the land – bounded to the north by Park Street, Park Lane to the east, Katharine Street to the south and High Street to the west – last year. Construction has already started on phase one, comprising the refurbishment and extension of St. George’s House (the former Nestle tower), Park House East and the former Blue Orchid nightclub – delivering 290 new homes.
Their plans for phase two of the development were presented to the Croydon Council Planning Committee last month before being shown to the public in early November.
On the exhibition boards for their consultation events, R&F say their “vision is to deliver on the Croydon Opportunity Area Planning Framework and Mid Croydon Masterplan and create a unique urban quarter located within the heart of Croydon”.
The plans include:
- The long-awaited Town Square, that will restore the Town Hall to its rightful place as a key focal point in the town centre, with space for the community to come together to celebrate civic events
- A high-quality public realm, which creates new linked spaces, permeability and new routes and views
- New homes of a range of sizes
- New commercial units – a mix of creative spaces for use by local businesses
- New space for the community in the centre of Croydon
- Greater connection and permeability through the site with priority for pedestrians
Croydon Council has granted approval for the demolition of the buildings within phase two, with the exception of the Grade II-listed Segas House, 1 Katharine Street (which is in the Conservation Area) and Park House.
The remainder of the site; 28-51 St. George’s Walk Retail Parade – located between Park Lane and St George’s Walk – remains open and continues to be occupied by businesses. This area does not form part of the proposed planning application. The scheme currently includes approximately 830 new homes.
“Our intention is to develop the ground floor to provide various uses and public space, with apartments above, including a tower to the east of St George’s Walk,” say R&F.
“Our aim is to deliver something different for Croydon: a new ‘creative quarter’– acting as a link between the existing cultural quarter around Fairfield Halls, the civic quarter around the Town Hall, the shopping and leisure quarter along the High Street and the emerging Westfield development to be delivered by the Croydon Partnership.
“To do this, we are developing an innovative approach to the ground floor of the Queen’s Square development. In addition to a new Town Square for Croydon, outside the Town Hall, we are proposing a series of less formal spaces. The intention is to open up the area, creating new views and routes through the site.”
Plans include the extension of Thomas Turner Path (pictured) and to create a “New Smith’s Yard” along with other informal public spaces.
Following the consultation period, R&F intend to present a revised version of their plans to the Croydon Planning Committee later this year and submit a planning application in early 2019.
The post Exciting Queen’s Square development proposals revealed appeared first on Develop Croydon.