Hammerson has agreed with South Oxfordshire District Council to extend its existing 2011 development agreement for the expansion of the Orchard Centre in Didcot, to which both parties hold legal interest.
The £50m mixed-used development will extend the Orchard Centre, providing new retail stores as well as restaurants, cafes, areas of public open space and an extended Car Park to be owned and managed by the Council.
The extension will add 150,000 sq ft of shopping and leisure space to the existing 200,000 sq ft Orchard Centre. The complex opened in 2005 with a new Sainsbury’s, shops and restaurants, Cineworld cinema and the Cornerstone Arts Centre.
A detailed planning application for the proposed retail–led extension was submitted to the Council in February 2015 and validated in March 2015. It is anticipated that the application will be considered by the Council’s planning committee during this summer.
Russell Beresford, Development Manager at Hammerson, commented, “The extension of the successful Orchard Centre will play an important part in the future growth of Didcot and the wider Science Vale area. Extending the development agreement reconfirms Hammerson’s and the Council’s commitment to delivering the scheme.”