Windsor & Maidenhead: Royal Borough shortlists development partners for major sites

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has shortlisted five developers as potential development partners for four major mixed-use sites in Maidenhead. The shortlisted companies are Berkeley Homes (Oxford and Chiltern); Countryside Properties (UK); Grainger plc; Pinnacle Group (consortium with Groveworld and Starwood Capital Group); and Shanly Homes.

The four new council-owned sites that will be developed total over 6.3ha and represent the biggest release of public land in the borough for several years. They are in York Road, West Street, Reform Road and St Cloud’s Way, all areas which will play a key role in the growth of Maidenhead.

The four sites could accommodate over 1,000 homes and work could start in 2018. Alongside new homes for a growing population the sites would also provide commercial opportunities with new office accommodation to meet high demand; as well as new community facilities, restaurants, shops and entertainment provision.  

The four sites have high land values and strong rents, and they are expected to generate significant income which the council plans to invest in improving services and facilities for residents.

Counsellor Simon Dudley, leader of the council and lead member for housing, said: “We had a lot of interest from developers for these sites, as we had expected. We will now be working with this high-quality shortlist to make sure we can award the contract to our preferred developer in May 2017.”

The Borough is already seeing significant investment and attracting new commercial occupiers, including Maersk, Blackberry and Alnylam; and new shops are opening in the Nicholsons Centre for Pandora, Smiggle and H&M.

Other regeneration projects include the redevelopment of Chapel Arches and a £250 million mixed-use redevelopment of the 3.3ha Broadway site which was granted planning permission late last year.