Croydon Vision 2020

Croydon Vision 2020 is a regeneration programme by the London Borough of Croydon aimed at the centre of Croydon in South London. The project is to highlight Croydon's bid to become 'London's Third City' and be the hub of living, retailing, culture and business in South London and South East England. Currently £3.5bn has been committed to the project with much in the development pipeline. The project will affect the urban planning of Central Croydon extensively.

Exhibitions

Croydon Expo

The Croydon Exp07 was a series of exhibitions highlighting the re-development of the London Borough of Croydon as a whole, including leisure, offices, shopping, transport and homes. It also included a town centre model which can still be seen in Croydon Central Library in the Croydon Clocktower building.

Projects

• Croydon Gateway - The Council together with its development partner Arrowcroft are proposing an arena-based scheme. The site, alongside East Croydon station, could include a 12,500 maximum capacity arena, offices, apartments, supermarket, health club, bars and restaurants. This scheme is currently before a planning inspector. It requires planning consent together with a Compulsory Purchase Order to be granted. The site is currently in the ownership of Stanhope who are developing their Ruskin Square development due to open in 2010.
• Howard Holdings - This Croydon-based international developer has three residential developments compromising of 36,896 m² providing 337 apartments in the town centre. Known as The Exchange, Bridge House and Altitude 25, the three developments will include car parking, shopping and leisure facilities. Howard Holdings also own and manage the Whitgift Centre, which is due to be redeveloped.
• Park Place - Minerva and Lend Lease's proposed scheme covering more than includes a shopping mall, bus station and office development with a new public square, similar in size to Covent Garden's piazza, in the centre of Croydon. It has full planning permission and has completed a CPO process to assemble the land. The development start date is unknown as no anchor department store has been confirmed.
• Wellesley Square - Berkeley Homes proposes a mixed-use development consisting of a 44 storey tower, 800 new homes, 3000 m² of retail and public realm including a new town square. Planning has not yet been secured for this site.
• Cherry Orchard Road - Developer Menta and architect Ken Shuttleworth's Make Practice are proposing a 93,000 m² mixed-use project designed as a series of crystalline towers. The development could also improve access to East Croydon station. Planning has not yet been secured for this site. The development would require office and residential values to increase substantially to make this project viable, but land has been assembled and the developer is going ahead with enabling developments for the Royal Mail and the meat packing company
• IYLO - Joint developers Phoenix Logistics and E3 Property's new residential 20 storey tower with ancillary public gardens is planned to become a focal point at the city's northern gateway. This development has full planning. Site clearance has been undertaken.
• 100 George Street - A new 25,824 m² office and retail development directly opposite East Croydon station.

Ruskin Square

Croydon Council actively supported proposals prepared by its development partner, Arrowcroft, to develop a mixed use scheme on site adjacent to East Croydon railway station, anchored by a 12,500 seat arena.

Arrowcroft's proposals for the Croydon Gateway site also included:

• Retail elements including a mix of shops, restaurants, cafés and bars including a new foodstore of 7,650 m²
• Over of 'Grade A' offices to bring new businesses to Croydon and meet the expansion needs of companies already based in the area
• Over 800 new homes - for both affordable rent and private sale - including a 35-storey

residential tower

• A health and fitness centre and community health centre
• A pedestrian plaza

Scheme Rejected

The full decision rejecting the Planning Application and the Compulsory Purchase Order was issued on the 31 July 2008 and the 6 August 2008. The full documentation can be found at the public inquiry website

This leaves the owners of the Site free to develop their Ruskin Square development based around a park, new Warehouse Theatre, together with homes and quality offices. The scheme has been designed by Foster + Partner

Wellesley Square

This strategic site on Wellesley Road has lain fallow for over 10 years and Berkeley Homes plans to use it to deliver a mixed-use development. Proposals for this northern gateway site include:

• A new public town square
• A prominent 44-storey tower
• 3,000 m² of retail floorspace including shops, restaurants and cafés surrounding the public square
• 739 new homes, 10% of which will be for shared ownership housing
• Ideas to minimise the scheme's impact on the environment. A significant proportion of the site's energy requirements will be met by on-site renewable energy sources.
• Creation of improved permeability and safeguarding of future pedestrian links between East and West Croydon stations.

Construction is due to start in 2008 with a completion date of 2012.

Whitgift Centre

Howard Holdings has purchased the Whitgift Centre in the middle of town for £221m. The 93,000 m² shopping and office centre currently draws in 24.2 million shoppers annually. It is rated as the UK's 9th busiest shopping centre and is one of the biggest shopping centres in Europe.

Plans to develop and expand the centre are currently being formalised. Construction of the extension is due to start in 2009 and be finished in 2014, as promised by Geddes Architects who are building the centre for Howard Holdings plc.

Cherry Orchard Road

Menta, the private development company, together with Croydon Council, Make Architects and planning adviser GL Hearn, is working up major regeneration proposals for Cherry Orchard Roadin Croydon, which could also incorporate improvement and extension of East Croydon station.

The mixed-use scheme will total approximately 93,000 sq m (1 million sq ft) of new accommodation. Of the total area, some 70% will be residential accommodation, with the remaining 30% being of mixed commercial use, including offices and retail. Critical to all proposals around East Croydon Station are improvements to the transport interchange. No project has yet to deliver the necessary funds for significant enhancements.

A number of glass-clad towers in a crescent shape will adjoin other existing buildings in the area including the NLA Tower and the Addiscombe community to the north east.

The proposals include the relocation of the Royal Mail sorting office to new premises on a nearby site on Cherry Orchard Road, maintaining the mixture of commercial and residential property that typifies the surrounding area.

Originally to be finished by 2018, a series of complications pointed out by Menta, the client, about the architecture of the buildings designed by Make and engineered by Knight Frank and GL Hearn have led to it being postponed until 2019 with construction ending in 2023.

Park Place

The proposed one million square foot redevelopment of Park Place would create over 130 shops, cafès and restaurants, anchored by a new department store.

Queen's Gardens would be completely remodelled, and a new bus interchange and tram stop will be built. The improvements include other environmental, economic and social projects.

The plan was intended to minimise the impact of the development activity in the town, and its aim was to address areas such as carbon emissions, recycling of waste material and the selection of building materials.

Scheme Collapse

This scheme collapsed in 2008. A new planning application for a development of shops and homes is expected to come to Croydon Council in early 2009.

IYLO

IYLO's architects, Darling Associates, propose a glass-clad elliptical tower of two equal halves that appear to be sliding past each other. The 20-storey building will provide 183 private apartments.

The project is located on an island site at a main entrance to Croydon town centre that is seen by the Borough Council as a vital part of Croydon's housing regeneration. The scheme will include a central public garden. Every apartment will have access to a recessed balcony.

Rain water will be collected off the buildings and used to provide irrigation for the garden. Renewable sources of energy will be included, and there will be recycling facilities next to the lay-by. Over half of the site will be landscaped. The architect is Darling Associates who were hired by Phoenix Logistics and E3 Property as well as the engineers Walsh Group and Scott Wilson. Construction started in 2007 with a completion date set for October 2009.

100 George Street

Wellesley Road

Wellesley Road is an urban motorway dominated by the 1960s underpass and subways; cutting the heart of the town in two with a north-south physical barrier that is difficult to negotiate.

The scale of the archiecture is dramatic, but pedestrians and public transport are pushed to the edges. The splitting of the town centre causes difficulties in the way central Croydon functions, with a lack of connections between major rail and bus stations, retail areas, office and cultural facilities and poor public access.

As part of the Area Action Plan process SMC Alsop, Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design and Croydon Council are examining the options for improving Croydon's environment, image and functioning. Measures will include improvements for pedestrians and better access to public transport. Street-level crossings, trees, seating, lighting and kiosks, and a central pedestrian walkway are being considered.

In the proposals it is likely that Wellesley Road will remain a main route for trams, buses and cars, possibly incorporating extensions to the Tramlink network. The difference will be that these modes of transport will no longer dominate the space to the detriment of the pedestrian experience and the image of Croydon. There is also an opportunity to simplify and improve the movement of these vehicles.

Opportunities exist for improving the ground floors and frontages of the buildings along Wellesley Road, connecting more effectively with their immediate surroundings creating more activity, such as shops and cafés with spill-out spaces. The engineers are SMC Alsop and Tibbalds Planning & Urban Design

Central One

Central One will be a new high-rise business park. Office floor spaces of approximately , totalling , will be provided over 40 storeys. The building will have internal atria every 6th floor and extensive public areas, with amenities such as cafès, restaurants, shops, and a fitness centre.

Fairfield and College Green

The scheme is centred upon the refurbishment and part redevelopment of the Fairfield Halls concert and theatre venue, to create an arts and cultural quarter.

A low-level piazza will link the theatre with the nearby Queen's Gardens. A remodelled open space will provide a new pedestrian boulevard to connect Queen’s Gardens, Croydon College and East Croydon Station.

Apartments will front the new boulevard and also enjoy views south across private gardens. The scheme will retain parking for both public and private use at lower levels. There will be a range of retail restaurants, cafès etc around the piazza, linking with a new entrance and foyer to the Fairfield Halls. The current programme anticipates a planning application towards the end of 2006 and a start on site in 2007.

Others

Altitude 25

The Cultural Quarter

The Exchange

Bridge House

Transport

East London Line Extension

Construction of the first phase of the East London Line Extension to West Croydon is now under way north of the Thames. This project will improve Croydon's public transport connections to central and inner East London. It will also provide the main impetus for building a modern public transport interchange at West Croydon station linking tram, bus and rail. The East London Line Extension will be a major contribution to London's transport infrastructure in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in the capital in 2012.

Improved Overground Network (ON)

This is a pilot scheme launched by the SRA, TFL and three train operators to encourage more passengers to travel off-peak. In partnership with the South London Boroughs, including Croydon, SWELTRAC, SELTRANS and the transport users group, the scheme promotes the advantages of off-peak travel following improvements to safety, travel connections and upgrading of station facilities.

Tramlink Extension

Croydon's light rail system, Tramlink, now carries around 22 million passengers a year. An extension to Crystal Palace is currently being developed by Transport for London with the support of the council and South London Partnership. This would improve public transport access to Upper Norwood and Crystal Palace Park and help to stimulate regeneration across the wider area. The extension could be in service by 2013. Other possible extensions include Sutton, M25 motorway Park and Ride, Coulsdon, Purley, Kingston Upon Thames, Tolworth, Tooting, Brixton (interchange with proposed Cross River Tram), Bromley and Lewisham (interchange with Docklands Light Railway).

External links

• Croydon Business: Croydon 2020
• Croydon Vision

References