Croydon Developments Thread

[kerouac1848]

Technically it's in London (or Greater London if you prefer) and hasn't been part of Surrey for close to half a century...

[delores]

Originally Posted by csk

Yeah same here, we need a developer who has experience of UK city centre retail/mixed use schemes, and they don't have a good track record when it come to this. In an ideal world, I would love to see the Whitgift transformed into a 'Liverpool One' style development. I think it would work well here as the Whitgift centre is essentially a series of streets and squares bound together, it used to be an outdoor shopping centre until the early 90's. I think retail at ground with great public realm, parking underground, some residential and then restaurants on the roof, maybe with a park/green space up there. If you've ever been to the top of the Whitgift centre car park, then you'll know that the backdrop of all the tall buildings along Wellesely road looks pretty impressive and would make a great space for a restaurant quarter. I did notice Grosvenor were in the shortlist and they were the developers of Liverpool One! But from reading various press articles it seems as though either Hammerson (who own Centrale and want to merge the two centres) and Westfield are the preferred bidders!

Agree the Westfeild one size fits all approach will be a big mistake here, all they will do is try to avoid the rest of Croydon and make the Whitgift even more inward looking. Grosvenor I agree seem to be the most appropriate developer here.

[CroydonBoy]

Comments like Jaeger's aren't even worth responding to. It's will be good to see the Renaissance development sprusing up that side of Dingwall Rd. Hopefully it and construction of the footbridge should give the Ruskin developers a kick up the backside!

[Jaeger]

Originally Posted by CroydonBoy

Comments like Jaeger's aren't even worth responding to. It's will be good to see the Renaissance development sprusing up that side of Dingwall Rd. Hopefully it and construction of the footbridge should give the Ruskin developers a kick up the backside!

I am sorry CroydonBoy I was only joking. Croydon is every bit as good as Romford, Slough, Reading and Watford.

[csk]

Originally Posted by CroydonBoy

Comments like Jaeger's aren't even worth responding to. It's will be good to see the Renaissance development sprusing up that side of Dingwall Rd. Hopefully it and construction of the footbridge should give the Ruskin developers a kick up the backside!

Yeah I hope so, it would be really good for Ruskin Square (phase 1) to start on site this year. There were rumours last month it had already started, however I think people were just getting confused with the workers currently on the Ruskin Sq site who are actually constructing the footbridge as opposed to Ruskin Square itself:

http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/new...e_work_begins/

On Stanhope's webiste it does say that construction of phase 1 should start this year, and I hope this is true, although as of yet the planning permission they have for the entire site is just outline planning permission, so before construction starts they need to be submitting an appication for full planning permission for all or part of the site. Since I haven't seen or heard of this being delivered to the council, I can only assume it will still be quite a few months off until we see any real progress in site unfortunately!

I believe their first phase will be residential, however maybe they are holding back at present as Saffron Square is under construction, and they maybe don't want to flood the market, although hopefully the fact that Saffron Square is selling well might encourage them to get on with things!

[csk]

Hammerson have today been announced as the preferred developer for the Whitgift centre, seeing off Westfield!

http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/new..._for_Whitgift/

[neuphin]

That's good news.
They seem to be taking Centrale in the right sort of direction.
Talking of which, I see that spud-u-like have left the failed food court area now so it's entirely empty - perhaps in response to the planning application to redevelop the area.

[csk]

Hopefully we should see the first phase of Ruskin Square taking shape soon:

http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/new...or_new_square/

http://www.propertyweek.com/news/gra...035910.article

[csk]

I thought it was about time this thread was updated, so here is a photo update of the projects currently U/C in Croydon:

Bernard Weatherhill House (New Council HQ):







New Hampton by Hilton Hotel and YMCA buildings on Dingwall Road (now completed):



New Premier Inn Hotel, Lansdowne Road, U/C:

http://planning.croydon.gov.uk/DCWeb...stemkey=128180



East Croydon Bridge U/C:[/B]

This is really moving forward, sections of the new bridge are now arriving on site and there is a lot of activity on the Ruskin Square site, this photo is taken from the current station, it's not very good, but in the distance to the right of the photo you can see the staircase which will lead you into the new station, for some reason it is currently facing the wrong way!



Renaissance Croydon U/C:

This is now also under construction, although I didn't manage to get any photos unfortunately:

http://www.renaissancecroydon.com/

Saffron Square U/C:

This is really coming on, for photo's see the following thread:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...=520683&page=8

In other news:

Centrale has now recieved planning permission for it's extension which will feature a new Showcase cinema:

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/n..._for_Centrale/

The Westfield vs Hammerson saga for the Whitgift continues:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...ase-order.html

Finally, unfortunately Allders has gone into administration, I wonder how this will affect the future of the Whitgift development:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18460386

[Trances]

Alders was already having a closing down sale today! How did they get the signs so fast!

[CroydonTown]

I really hope Allders' administrators find a buyer - it will leave an enormous hole on the high street if it disappeared

[delores]

Westfeilds proposal for Whitgift shopping centre, hope Hammersons is better.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18682091

[kerouac1848]

In the name of competition I'd rather Westfield lose out. London needs diversity in ownership of large shopping centres.

[pakboy]

Did anyone get the plans from the Westfield exibition in Croydon or the leaflets they dropped.

Also has the plans by Hammerson been released yet.

[neuphin]

I had a walked past Westfield's exhibiton trailer outside the Whitgift centre yesterday, didn't actually look inside at the model they had though.

I think I read the Hammerson plans should be coming in a month or so.

[Alfa Bear]

Originally Posted by kerouac1848

In the name of competition I'd rather Westfield lose out. London needs diversity in ownership of large shopping centres.

It's not just London shopping Centres starting to be dominated by Westfield, if we are not carefull it will be the UK.

NB good to see my home town is starting to be dragged up!

[Rational Plan]

[Dale's London]

How about Tram-Trains for the Croydon Tram.

http://daleslondon.wordpress.com/201...train-concept/

[delores]

Hammerson's Whitgift Centre proposal and not a Westfield logo in sight, obviously.
Looks good less like a shopping centre more like a street.

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/urban...040439.article

[Core Rising]

Nice.