House of Fraser Site – Development Update

Update February 2022

Since the guest blog below was first posted in August 2021, circumstances have changed and Canadian and Arcadia have made the following announcement:

“Since the plans were consented in 2021, we have been working incredibly hard to secure tenants for 80 George Street and have engaged with a number of well-known retailers to secure a pre-let that would enable us to bring forward the redevelopment without doing so on a speculative basis.
During that time we had numerous approaches from investors and developers in an increasingly buoyant market. We have taken the decision to list the property for sale and find a new owner with the resources to deliver the scheme.
Initial strip out works have been completed and the approved plans remain in place for a high-quality retail, leisure and office scheme which will transform this landmark building and create enormous employment opportunities. We believe there will be considerable interest in the site and we hope to provide greater certainty in the coming months.”

Be Richmond understands Canadian and Arcadia’s position regarding the former House of Fraser site at 80 George Street. However, given Richmond town centre’s success in attracting high quality retail and hospitality businesses over the last year, we are confident that the site will be quickly snapped up and converted into a thriving multi-purpose retail, leisure and office development.

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In this guest blog, Greg Miles, project liaison manager at Canadian and Arcadia (who own the House of Fraser site at 80 George Street) gives an update on progress at the site.

The famous House of Fraser building at 80 George Street is one of the landmark properties in Richmond town centre and the dominant site visitors see as they approach from the direction of Richmond Bridge.

 

Following a devastating fire at the previous building on the site (the Goslings and Sons drapers shop), the property was purpose-built as a department store in 1968 trading under the name Dickins and Jones. In the mid 1970s, the basement was developed to accommodate a sales floor for the household goods department. The store was successful and traded well during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2007, Dickins and Jones was acquired by the House of Fraser group and the Richmond site was rebranded in line with the  new company name. 

 

The building’s mass is offset by the surrounding narrow alleyways of Paved Court and Golden Court. In the 20 years of Canadian and Arcadia’s ownership of the site, they have worked hard to help support and nurture the small independent businesses that fall into their ownership (those on the same side of Paved Court as the former HoF building). A key aim of the redevelopment of the main building is to help footfall in both Paved and Golden Courts, as both streets will house entrances to the office parts of the new development. 

 

So what’s been happening?

In recent months the team at Canadian and Arcadia has overseen the strip-out of the building which was completed in May. The strip has revealed what we’ve always known about the building, fantastic proportions, generous ceiling heights, and most importantly, large amounts of natural light flooding into the floors. The work has helped us enormously when showing prospective tenants around the space, where they were previously blinded by hordes of racking, stud walls and clutter, visitors now find it much easier to imagine how the space would work for them, their customers and their employees. All these things have helped us get to advanced stages of negotiations with a number of potential occupiers. Two large national retailers are interested in taking the majority of the retail space, while several leisure businesses are interested in taking the remaining retail/leisure space.

Whilst we are currently in dialogue with a number of potential office space tenants, these discussions are at a less advanced stage than those with retail and leisure businesses. However, we remain confident that we will deliver the best quality, Covid-secure office environment possible that will support Richmond’s reputation as one of the best places in the country in which to live, work and explore. Thanks to the incredible vaccine roll-out we can see confidence returning (albeit at a moderate pace) to the office market as companies adapt to the post-Covid world. We believe the offices at 80 George Street will offer the best accommodation in South West London.

The new 4^th floor at the site will feature roof terraces offering breathtaking 360 degree views and the ground floor will have a large communal break out area with access to a garden courtyard. These amenities coupled with a town centre location will ensure that we can not only retain existing Richmond occupiers but also attract companies from outside the area.

We hope this update gives you an idea of how far we’ve come. There’s still plenty of work to do and I hope to update you soon.

If you are interested in retail/hospitality or office space at 80 George Street, please download the relevant prospectus below.

About the author:

Greg Miles, the project liaison manager for Canadian and Arcadia, was born in Richmond and has lived in the borough all his life. He knows the town intricately and understands the importance of the House of Fraser’s building to Richmond. Greg oversees Canadian and Portland’s two main sites – 80 George St. Richmond and their mixed-use site in Kingston upon Thames. He lives in Twickenham with his wife and 4 month old son.