London mayor Boris Johnson today said he was “delighted” by Westfield’s decision to commit to Croydon.
Speaking at the Develop Croydon 2011 conference, Johnson said that the Australian developer’s plans to redevelop the Whitgift shopping centre had followed months of negotiations in the wake of the riots.
He added: “I am delighted that Westfield has decided to launch its third centre in London in Croydon.”
The mayor was at the conference to launch a £23m regeneration fund for Croydon following this summer’s riots.
Other speakers echoed his sentiments.
Ian Mason, head of UK property fund management at Schroders, the backer behind the 1.5m sq ft Ruskin Square, said: “The recent interest by Westfield is a significant step forward for Croydon in establishing itself as the capital of South London.”
Robin Dobson, director of UK retail development at Hammerson, which owns the Centrale shopping centre in Croydon, said that he hoped improvements to the 700,000 sq ft mall would boost Croydon to one of the top five shopping locations in the UK.
He said Croydon’s catchment ran to £5.4bn but that the town only managed to capture one-third of that.
A public consultation into plans to improve and extend Centrale and create evening trade in the town centre will start on the 2 December.
nadia.elghamry@estatesgazette.com
Listen to Nadia Elghamry’s interview with Robin Dobson, director of UK retail development at Hammerson here or download the full podcast recording, Hammerson talks about a cohesive “seismic” scheme in Croydon, on Estates Gazette’s iTunes channel.
