North Street Site

The Challenge

C&W were appointed in 2009 to advise Guildford Borough Council on the abandoned Council/Westfield scheme for a 250,000 ft² extension of the Friary Centre. Our conclusive report suggested there was the need for a radical new approach to ensure delivery of the right urban solution that reflected the quality of the surrounding urban grain.

In 2011, C&W were appointed as strategic development consultant to the Council to implement and facilitate development opportunities within Guildford Town Centre, to ensure a sound financial return and achieve the council’s regeneration aims of providing growth through retail/leisure developments on strategic sites.

The Solution

The most important site strategically, North Street, was deemed to be too small to feasibly accommodate all the required elements. Therefore prior to marketing the site, C&W advised that the bus station needed to be relocated to make the site more attractive to both developers and investors alike.

After agreeing on the procurement and development strategy with the Council, C&W drafted a detailed development brief and actively marketed the site. Following a high volume of bids we shortlisted three of the largest and most successful retail/leisure developers in the market; Land Securities, Lend Lease, and Queensberry.

The Results

Land Securities were selected as the preferred Development Partner and the Development Agreement was exchanged in June 2014. Land Securities are now in the process of working up a viable scheme, with a view to submitting a planning application.