UK -based Fordgate has won provisional planning consent for a massive SFr1.8bn leisure and congress centre on the shores of Lake Constance in Switzerland. The waterside development, called Swiss Marina, will include a 4,500-room hotel, conference centre, sports stadium and an open-air amphitheatre.
The local authorities of Rorschach and Rorschacherberg and Swiss railways own the land, where the project, which is claimed by the developers to be the first of its kind in Europe, will be built over four years. Fordgate expects the project to attract 24,000 visitors a day.
The company is also working on a leisure scheme in the Netherlands and a hotel and office scheme in Prague. In the nine months to April this year, Fordgate acquired £300m of property, including a 325,000m2 portfolio of industrial estates from UK company Capital & Regional.
