The redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, south London, took a step forward this week when the local council granted outline consent for the £1.4bn project.
While the nod from the council means work on the scheme – first proposed by Hammerson and Westfield in 2013 – can now start to move forward, a number of questions remain. And the joint venture remains tight-lipped on them.
The first: will one of the two main anchor tenants that will join the scheme with Marks & Spencer in its new larger stores be John Lewis?
It has been keen to open a store in Croydon for years and its desire to open in the town forced Minerva to redesign its ill-fated Park Place scheme. The new Whitgift designs feature a perfectly located store for the department store giant.
Westfield UK’s head of development, John Burton, said an agreement was in place with an anchor, but added that he would not conduct a business deal in public.
The second question is all about the name.
Everyone agrees that the redevelopment needs to have the word Croydon in it. And most people – including the chair of the planning committee (even though he did correct himself) – already call it Westfield Croydon. So will it be called that? No clear decision there yet either.
“We have got to sit down and agree on the most suitable naming,” said Burton. “We have gone into this as jv and therefore we have got to find what works for the scheme. I don’t think anyone disagrees that it will have the word Croydon in it. We are going to work out the most appropriate name and branding for it.”
The revised plans, which will be subject to approval from London mayor Sadiq Khan, include some 1.5m sq ft of retail and leisure space, almost 1,000 flats, plus parking and plenty of public realm.
The masterplan maintains the design principles of the original 2014 consented scheme, but with the addition of a third level of shops and restaurants, and the incorporation of the Green Park House office site, which was
acquired by the Croydon Partnership in February 2016.
The new plans also allow for better integration with West Croydon, improved public realm on Poplar Walk, as well as the new flagship M&S store.
The flats, which will be delivered in phases alongside the retail, will be for the PRS market with Hammerson and Westfield both undecided on whether they will operate the residential side themselves or look for a third party.
The jv has agreed to a minimum of 20% being affordable with a 50:50 split on those being between the traditional affordable definition and the London Living Rent.
The next steps for the project, which Hammerson and Westfield said they had capacity to fund out of their existing resources, will be completing the land drawdown to enable the redevelopment, discussions with retailers and completing its detailed designs. The pair said this was likely to take up the majority of 2018, with the earliest commencement of work on site not until 2019.
Burton and Hammerson retail director Robin Dobson said the mix of leisure and retail within the scheme was unlikely to be determined for at least 18 months as it want to make sure the scheme remained flexible and delivered the best experience possible to Croydon and the surrounding towns.
Dobson said: “There is a huge loyalty that exists in and around Croydon to bring it back to the place it used to be 20-plus years ago. And the size, quality and diversity of what we are talking about in retail, leisure and entertainment will allow us to do that.”
The development will contribute more than £30m to the provision of local infrastructure via the community infrastructure levy, together with around £7.5m for scheme-specific measures, including £2.5m to support employment and training initiatives to assist with providing jobs for local people.
Peter Cole, Hammerson’s chief investment officer, said: “Our goal remains to deliver a world-class retail and leisure destination to attract new visitors to Croydon and enhance economic growth in the town.
“We are pleased with the level of retail demand which has driven the evolution of the design and layout of the new scheme, and we look forward to progressing our plans and transforming Croydon into one of the UK’s top 10 retail and leisure destinations.”
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