The joint venture to deliver the £1billion-plus shopping centre for Croydon will be the catalyst for sustained investment in the town according to its developers.
Westfield and Hammerson, under the banner of the Croydon Partnership, are scheduled to begin work on transforming the existing Whitgift shopping centre into the retail and leisure destination for south London next year.
And Robin Dobson, director of retail development for Hammerson told the Develop Croydon session at MIPIM: “Over the past 15 years, through the regeneration and building of ten centres, we’ve created 25,000 jobs and £3.5billion of investment through joint ventures just like this one.
“With a primary catchment population of two million and available spend of about £1billion, the opportunity is to create a new retail and leisure destination for south London.
Raising a laugh: Steve Yewman (left) on the panel with Boxpark’s Matthew McMillan and Hammerson’s Robin Dobson
“We know through schemes that have been delivered in and around the UK and London that retail and leisure creates a catalyst not just day one when we open a project but also long-term sustainable investment going forward.”
Steve Yewman, development director for scheme partners Westfield, said: “We’ve always said that what we want when we’re open is a town on the up.
“The first phase of offices have almost been delivered at Ruskin Square, you’ve got the tech hub guys, the further investment by employers that area already in the town, an inward investment company called Develop Croydon and a local authority that are in a progressive delivery zone. It’s there and it’s happening.”
Mr Yewman sees no reason why the Croydon scheme cannot be as successful as Westfield Stratford, which opens its doors at 6am and with its restaurants that trade beyond 10pm.
“The inside-outing of London means that Croydon will almost be a 24/7 town and I think that’s a real positive for growth as we’ve seen at Stratford,” he said.
“Croydon has already got the office workers there – 70-100,000 people already work there.
“Stratford is a good place, post the Olympics all of the office buildings are now happening, the East Village is successfully being rented out and you are seeing new customers coming into the shopping centre – even John Lewis is saying we’re selling stuff we’re not selling anywhere else in London because it’s a different customer.
“I think that’s really positive and I see all of those similarities with Croydon – actually just a little bit more turbo-charged.”