31 Mar 2023
It has been heralded as the biggest development St Albans council has ever undertaken, a multi-million pound “iconic landmark scheme” on a major gateway into the city centre. But as the total bill for Jubilee Square continues to mount, will the final project deliver on expectations?
The scheme formerly known as CCOS (City Centre Opportunity Site) South includes 93 flats and new commercial floor space on the former police station and NHS site in Victoria Street.
Work on the site actually dates back to the start of 2019, under the previous Conservative administration, when demolition work began on the previous buildings.
But original plans for the initial £49m project were withdrawn in November 2019 after residents and the Civic Society raised concerns with the design, with planning permission subsequently granted to a revised scheme in January 2021 after the public voted on their favourite of three different architects’ designs.
Speaking at the time, Cllr Robert Donald, portfolio holder for commercial and development, said: “We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to redesign a vital part of our city centre and create a new development fit for the 21st century and beyond. I want to see an iconic landmark scheme built on this site that has an architectural wow factor, benefits St Albans’ economy and provides new residential accommodation.
“Above all, it needs to be a development that residents are proud of, businesses want to occupy, visitors wish to explore and newcomers choose to live in.
“This is a prestige site, right in the heart of the city, that deserves to have buildings and public spaces that enhance and enliven its centre for generations to enjoy today and tomorrow. To achieve this, it is important that the best possible use is made of the site.”
The winning design, by London-based architectural firm Space & Place, included a landmark commercial building on the most prominent corner of the site with a curved, glazed façade, separated by green walls from a residential block.
Yet even this step in the process met with controversy, with independent community voice on design Look! St Albans objecting to comments within the planning application.
In a letter from the group’s officers to SADC, they objected to “misleading” statements made by the council regarding the process in both the Design and Access Statement and Statement of Community Involvement.
“Both documents infer that the early community engagement that was undertaken by the applicant informed and retains relevance in this and the previous planning application for the CCOS site.
“The applicant has made it abundantly clear that they rejected that work by the community and therefore it is misleading at the very least to say that work informs this application before you…
“This planning application before you is the result of an ill-advised design competition, not the community-led charrette nor the Community Design Review that preceded this application. The competition was open to abuse, and invited and received minimal participation from the community and it is therefore highly regrettable that the council as landowner and developer has chosen to proceed on this most important site in St Albans on that basis.
“Despite repeated requests the actual design brief for the recent design competition that formed the basis of this planning application has not been made public knowledge.
“Many of those who took part originally in the Masterplanning charrette of 2016 were motivated by a spirit of joint endeavour and sense of pride in what the community could achieve collectively. Those who took part are now left dispirited by the total disregard of the outcome of that process, intended for the betterment of this site.”
The Look! St Albans charrette was a focused collaborative planning method bringing together the talents, energies and local knowledge of interested parties, to tackle site specific design aspects of buildings and surrounding open spaces.
This further delay and revised application also led to the new scheme costing £12m more than originally planned, although SADC pledged the increase in budget to £61m would be cost-neutral and not affect the profitability or viability of the scheme.
The development was then expected to be completed by October 2022, but this was then pushed back to March, with a further increase to £64m.
But changes arising from the Grenfell tragedy in relation to green walls resulted in SADC having to provide a different design, apply for planning permission and order alternative materials.
And now, four years after initial work started on the site, CCOS South is still months behind schedule and has missed its latest target.
SADC is now in the process of negotiating the sale of all 93 residential properties to Watford Community Housing, which plans to make 33 available for social rent and sell 60 apartments on a shared-ownership basis with support from Homes England.
This does mean SADC will not reap market rate for these 60 properties, although full details of the project’s budget will only be made available once the final accounts have been agreed.
This will hopefully include the amount of interest paid on the various loans associated with the scheme in order to soak up the increased budget, and whether it has made the profit expected when it was originally envisioned.
The current estimate for completion is now May, dependent on factors such as weather conditions being favourable.
Cllr Robert Donald, chair of the regeneration and business committee, said: “Given present uncertainty
about a downturn in the housing market, by selling all the flats in a single transaction we obtain a guaranteed amount for the council. We also avoid the risk of not obtaining the prices originally forecast on the open market and accumulating extra costs if the properties only sell slowly one by one over many months.
“This arrangement is a win-win for the council. It not only gives us a guaranteed capital sum but also means 60 flats will be sold as a shared ownership scheme allowing those who could not otherwise afford to buy their own home in St Albans to do so.”
Morgan Sindall will hand over the development once they have completed the works to the council’s satisfaction and are able to furnish all of the required certificates including Building Control and National House Building Council sign-off.
With regards to the non-residential space, SADC says their commercial agent has shown a number of organisations around the development and is reporting a lot of interest.
Council tenants at Telford Court, which is due to be demolished next year, will be given the option of moving into the new social housing at Jubilee Square.
