This is the impressive huge ceiling of the Bentall shopping centre in Kingston Upon Thames. But as great swathes of shops lay empty at the nearby Croydon Whitgift and Sutton St Nicholas, what does the long-term future hold?
Croydon Whitgift was due for a cash injection from Westfield, though this fell through. Whereas in Sutton there are plans to add more housing, to meet the demands of the government quota. One artist’s impression is shown below.
How do you feel about this proposed development? Would it be good for Sutton? Let us know in the comments below.
We welcome the interest from residents and Secret Carshalton on the future of the St Nicholas Centre and wider town centre redevelopment. The drawings shown in the post though are not the Council’s proposals for the site. The ones shown were prepared by the previous owner of the shopping centre, before the Council purchased it. The Council has recently launched a procurement process for a development partner to design and build a mixed-use scheme, including new retail, leisure and commercial space, a new Civic Hub and new homes with improved public realm and connections through the town centre. Once a development partner had been selected next year, they will prepare a plan and design a scheme (which will be subject to consultation) with local residents and stakeholders in advance of and through the planning process. Thanks.
Thank you for the clarification
OK… does the development include a Doctors Surgery to tend to the increased population? What about a pre-school nursery? Is there a parking garage planned to match the number of residents?
Generally it would definitely make sense to turn this retail area into mixed use, but you can’t just build flats. People are going to live in those flats, and those people need services too, they’re not just sitting there generating money for landlords. It’s a good location for public transport and obviously there’ll be plenty of shops nearby still, but health, education etc also need to be included for the increased population.
It’d be nice to see a hint of sympathetic architecture – the St Nicholas Centre tries to echo the rooflines of its surroundings. Not particularly effective but an attempt was made! These blocks look like they could be anywhere in the world – well, designed for warmer, sunnier climate than us! I can’t imagine that rooftop terrace cafe would be appealing on a day like today!
Given the shift to online purchasing, it seems desirable to incorporate housing and social facilities into new developments, but this seems like a really concentrated one with too many people in too small an area. Any re-greening is good, however, the increase in high-rise accommodation is worrying. It looks fine from above on an architect’s plan, but how will it feel in the perpetually shaded areas around the buildings? I believe we need more space between shorter buildings.
Call me old fashioned but high streets should consist of shops that are useful for the local population. Sutton is being turned into one great wind tunnel with all these high rises, which is yet another factor putting people off going there, very unpleasant for the elderly especially in the winter months.
Absolutely Horrible.
Sutton is being turned into a town of high rise, high density, miniscule flats and a few coffee shops (and no parking).
We need the council to put an effort into creating a high street people will want to go to for shopping – for THINGS. Not just a coffee.
A proper “Town Centre” – with parking (that is affordable) so it will attract consumers from far and wide.