Hammerson wins Croydon regeneration contract

European real estate company Hammerson has beaten Westfield to be the preferred partner in the development of the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, Royal London Asset Management and IBRC Assurance Company confirmed in a joint statement.

Lease owners RLAM and IBRC Assurance Company both announced that they have signed an exclusive deal with Hammerson, which acquired the Centrale in Croydon in March 2011, to manage, regenerate and expand the South London shopping centre.

Hammerson’s experience with similar projects such as the Bullring in Birmingham and Highcross in Leicester, together with their strong retailer relationships, proved crucial in the independent review, co-ordinated by Jones Lang LaSalle.

In the joint statement, RLAM & IBRC Assurance Company commented: “The Whitgift Centre lies at the heart of Croydon and its successful redevelopment will be a crucial element in the regeneration of the town itself. This consideration underlined every step of our rigorous process of selecting the best partner for the job.

“The quality of submissions from all parties was very high, although in Hammerson we recognised a partner who could demonstrate a long-term commitment to reasserting Croydon as a centre of retail excellence through a combination of redevelopment and organic growth. Of equal importance, Hammerson possess the necessary resources to complete a project of this scale successfully.”

Currently, the Whitgift Centre, situated in the centre of Croydon, comprises of approximately 580,000 sq ft of retail floorspace with 154 shop units, several department stores and a supermarket, and attracts around 28 million shoppers annually.