Work on Westfield and Hammerson’s £1bn new shopping centre in Croydon due to begin at the end of this year has been delayed until 2017 – the year it was expected to open.
“Works are now expected to start in 2017 with potential completion in 2020/21,” the property developers said yesterday morning.
They said the reason for the delay was due to “extended planning process and discussions with a number of potential anchor tenants.”
The council granted permission for Westfield and Hammerson’s proposal in 2014. Their plan is to redevelop Croydon’s two main shopping centres, Whitgift and Centrale, into one major retail and leisure destination this year.
Croydon Council leader Tony Newman, said: “[Hammerson] absolutely need to crack on with the scheme. We’re bending over backwards to make that happen but we need to make sure that with the legal processes we get that right.”
“Considerable progress was made in 2015 to advance the scheme, with the conclusion of the CPO Inquiry and the decision from the Secretary of State to allow the Council powers to purchase the land required to deliver the project,” Carolyn Kenney, a project director at Hammerson, said.
“We expect to have completed the final designs and land assembly by the end of the current year, with a targeted opening in 2020.”
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London said: “This has been something that I think people in Croydon have wanted for a very long time.”
“[There will be] at least 5,000 additional jobs in retail, and obviously what people will be looking for is increased economic activity in Croydon which will benefit everybody here in business. What it also adds is more new homes. About seven and half thousand new homes will be triggered by this investment,” Johnson said.
Hammerson’s CEO, David Atkins is convinced the shopping centre “is going to change people’s perception of Croydon, it will become the retail hub of south London,” he said.
Hammerson is a FTSE 100 retail property specialist and has been creating and running retail destinations for over sixty years. In addition, Westfield Corporations has retail destinations in London, New York, San Francisco and Los Angles. It is one of the world’s leading shopping centre companies.
Another delay in the construction of this proposed shopping centre in Croydon.
The town is is need of refurbishment and a much needed new shopping centre. So much development is taking place, yet delay after delay on the shopping centre.
I am now beginning to think it won’t ever happen. It was supposed to start in 2013, then pushed back to 2015, this was changed to 2016 and no we hear it will start in 2017.
Really!! If all parties involved worked a bit harder then it would happen.
How can it ever happen when Croydon Council and the other parties involved are so lethargic and lacking in vision , focus and dynamic action…..very few of them can believe in the project or even care about it and it shows! So sad when Croydon had real potential …….lost in a maze of indecision and endless argument!
Jesus Londoners bellyaching again? Y’all don’t know about indecision and watching molasses until you’ve lived up north, which as a region is ignored by both the public and private big boyz. I can remember the first time I step out of Bradford station and walked through the ‘town centre’ in constant construction.
Anyways, there’s still The Great Recession going on with 0% interest rates and record house prices which makes anyone bold enough to look beyond The Hype, ask the question – just how well will the locals benefit from another massive mall staffed by low paid graduates? Croydon Council take your bureaucratic time in reading the small print on this mega project.
Why don’t they get a move on it will take centuries. Hope it looks lovely when it is completed.