Hammerson and Standard Life, joint owners of North London's Brent Cross Shopping Centre, have radically revised their plans for the centre in a move that could see it becoming a spur to regeneration in the wider area.
After a five-year planning battle to extend the scheme, the owners have abandoned plans to add another 28,000 sq m of shopping, including a new department store anchor even though a planning inspector is still considering their proposal. They are now working up new plans for a mixed-use scheme that is more in keeping with modern planning thinking.
A Hammerson spokesman told Retail Week: 'Our thinking has moved on. We now think there is scope for residential and hotel uses, as well as extra retail. It will become a denser scheme.'
But independently of this rethink, Hammerson now finds itself involved in a much bigger regeneration initiative in the Cricklewood area, involving up to 800,000 sq m of mixed-use development on the opposite side of the North Circular Road from Brent Cross.
As part of its£69 million purchase of the former Railtrack property portfolio, Hammerson has bought a 50 per cent stake alongside Pillar Property in the Cricklewood Goods Yard site.
Hammerson chief executive John Richards confirmed: 'The interest we have acquired in the Cricklewood area complements the existing ownership of Brent Cross Shopping Centre and will support a co-ordinated approach to the regeneration and improvement of this area.'
Pillar and Hammerson are holding exploratory talks about accelerating progress on the massive scheme, and have received the backing of the local authority.
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