Potential investors were given a glimpse of how Croydon will be transformed by 2020 and attempts to attract some of the most prestigious brands to the town.
Carolyn Kenney, development director of Hammerson – which is transforming the retail core along with Westfield in a £1.5billion scheme – led key decision-makers on a tour of the existing Centrale and Westfield Shopping Centres as part of the Croydon Investor Tour which took place on Tuesday, September 29.
She explained why it was necessary to send the bulldozers into the Whitgift, describing the 1960s centre as “close to its sell-by date” because it no longer offered the kind of floor plates and layout which appeals to companies which want their brand to be presented in a certain way.
Guests gather for the tour at Sussex Innovation Croydon
“The recent confirmation of the CPO (compulsory purchase order) is a great milestone which means we can focus on bringing forward the details of the design,” she said.
“We already have outline planning consent for the scheme but need to make sure the consent we have meets the requirement of the various retailers so that we provide the space they need.
“We be looking at taking the land towards the end of next year and should be able to make a start on site either at the back end of next year or starting early in 2017. With a three-year build programme that means we will be looking at opening during 2020.”
Ms Kenney also confirmed that the Croydon Partnership were in talks with potential anchor stores in the revamped Whitgift, with Debenhams and House of Fraser already the cornerstones of Centrale.
“Our proposal is for Marks & Spencer to remain, but possibly in a new store, so they are brought up to the standard of the new development, and then introduce a new anchor effectively behind the location of the existing Allders building. We are in discussions with John Lewis at the moment to take that store.
“Owning Centrale allows us to coordinate the development. Some retails units are deliberately being kept vacant so that existing Whitgift tenants can move across during construction.”
The successful CPO is the latest development which has helped to inspire confidence in the town – which is spreading to the commercial sector with EDF Energy set to move its London operations to Interchange, a wave of developers building new homes, plus proposals to enhance the “ground floor offer” in Croydon with improved public realm, new restaurants, bars and a revamped Fairfield Halls.
Jo Negrini, Croydon Council’s executive director for place, said: “Getting our CPO confirmed for the new £1.5billion retail development is something that Westfield, Hammerson and the council have been working on and it is a major catalyst for some of the other things that are happening now.
“In the couple of weeks since the announcement by office has been incredibly busy with a number of people in the town who are now starting to stay they would like us to look at revising their existing planning consents.”
Guests also heard from Richard Plant, chairman of the Develop Croydon Forum; Mike Herd, executive director of Sussex Innovation Croydon; plus council officers Tim Naylor, James Collier and Ed McDermott about the authority’s planning processes, and they a flavour of the town’s cultural and heritage appeal by visiting the RISEgallery and Whitgift Almhouses.
Mr Plant said: “I’m a passionate supporter of Croydon. I’ve lived here for 20 years and I’m really excited about what is happening now. Given everything you can see going on now it is easy to forget where we were after the riots four years ago when eight founder members came together to form Develop Croydon.
“From those eight members we have now gone up to 60 and it’s the quality of that group – with members such as Hammerson and Westfield – working closely with the council that has brought about some of the change in Croydon.
“This is our seventh tour, which is about challenging perceptions of Croydon, and I think everybody – even the people from Croydon – have gone away with things that they didn’t realise were the case.”