‘A momentous deal’ as The Landing takes off

Town centre: £155million agreement and immediate start to construction

developers in charge of bringing forward The Landing regeneration project in Maidenhead have agreed a £155million deal to begin the first phase of construction.

HUB and Smedvig have combined with build-to-rent operator Get Living to forward fund the beginning of the scheme, which was approved by a planning panel back in 2018.

The deal enables the delivery of 429 homes and 23,000sqft of ground floor retail, as well as car parking and public realm on the 3.5-acre site in Maidenhead town centre.

Construction will start on site ‘immediately’, developers say, with work expected to complete fully in late 2024.

This date is a delayed one compared with previous targets – in 2019, the Royal Borough said that it expected works to be complete by 2023.

The project has been hit with delays, leading to speculation surrounding the lack of activity and reassurances from the developers that there were ‘no issues’ with delivering the scheme.

Disputes between landowners and developers forced a shorter than expected public inquiry earlier this year. It concluded in July.

The inquiry decision saw the remaining Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) agreed for the site in August, with HUB saying the developer was ‘on track’ to begin work later in the summer.

The Landing will deliver 104,000sqft of office space and 15,000 sqft of ground floor retail and leisure in two further phases.

A garden square including landscaping, trees and seating areas will also create a ‘green destination.’

Damien Sharkey, managing director at HUB, said: “The scheme we will now deliver is particularly important for Maidenhead, being on a pivotal site for the town and based on designs developed through extremely close consultation with the local community.”

Rick de Blaby, CEO of Get Living, added: “This is a momentous deal – being our seventh neighbourhood of large scale, but this time in a regional town rather than London or one of the UK’s large cities.”

The imminent start of construction means the temporary short-stay car park on the corner of Queen Street, King Street and Broadway will close on Sunday.