John Laing picked as partner for £450m Croydon regeneration

John Laing has landed the rights to a £450m project to regenerate major buildings in Croydon.

Croydon Council announced the infrastructure firm as preferred partner for the massive regeneration project that will include the redevelopment of four council sites and construction of a new council headquarters.

John Laing beat out Land Securities Trillium and 18 other companies for the job.

Up first for redevelopment are the council’s headquarters Taberner House, its 1960s offices in Fell Road, College Green and its Tamworth annex site in West Croydon.

The project will be administered using a 50:50 urban regeneration vehicle, which is expected to be passed by the council cabinet on 9 June, with formal sign-off in October.

The council said the limited liability partnership allowed it to better control and profit from the regeneration.

Councillor Tim Pollard said: “The council has, for some time, sold sites to the highest bidder only for developers to take all the profit when land is developed.

“The solution we expect to engineer with John Laing will ensure we get a big slice of the future action and make a lasting contribution to Croydon’s regeneration.

“But taking on a commercial investor as a partner in the regeneration vehicle, the council will be able to maximise the value of its assets and drive the way in which the next phase of borough-wide regeneration unfolds.”