Westfield Establishes Foothold in South London

Thursday 10 November 2011

The Westfield Group today announced that it has entered into exclusive arrangements with the Whitgift Foundation to explore the potential redevelopment of a major retail centre at Croydon in south London.

Westfield and the Whitgift Foundation, the freehold owner of the Whitgift shopping centre, intend to work together to examine opportunities arising from the retail-led regeneration of the Croydon town centre.

Croydon is a strategic location in south London close to Gatwick Airport and serves the affluent trade areas of Surrey and Kent as well as parts of Hampshire, East Sussex and West Sussex.

The scheme has the potential to serve over 3 million customers in London and the south east of England. This market is currently underserved by high quality retail and leisure facilities and is well known to be a target market for major retail groups in the UK.

Michael Gutman, Managing Director Europe and New Markets said, "There is the potential for a major retail scheme in this strategic market which has been identified in the past by the John Lewis Partnership as a possible key location and the GLA and the local authorities have very high aspirations to implement a major retail scheme and the regeneration of the town centre."

"Westfield and the Whitgift Foundation will seek a constructive dialogue with all the key stakeholders over the coming weeks and months to seek to bring this much anticipated project to fruition." he said.

Ian Harley, Chairman of the Court of Governors, said: "The Whitgift Foundation, which owns the freehold of the Whitgift shopping centre and other town centre investment properties, has been working for many years to help bring about much needed improvements to the town centre. The Foundation welcomes this agreement to work in partnership with Westfield and other key stakeholders to secure a major new investment in the retail centre of Croydon which is not only intended to achieve much needed improvements to the Whitgift shopping centre but also help bring about the regeneration of the town centre generally."

Click here to download a PDF of this press release