KINGSTON Council has announced plans for a potential redevelopment of the Guildhall Complex in the town centre to accommodate affordable housing and community facilities.

The council has named the programme Transform Kingston and has identified two sites - the sites of the 1970s office buildings on the Guildhall Complex and the Cattle Market Car Park - to become part of the heritage-led regeneration programme.

"The Guildhall 1 and Guildhall 2 office buildings are dated, inefficient and are making a significant contribution to the Council's carbon footprint. They would require significant investment to retrofit and make them fit for purpose," said Andreas Kirsch, leader of Kingston Council.

The programme aims to address the lack of affordable homes for residents in the borough and identified the particular pressure on young people and key workers on low-incomes who are currently unable to pay rent in the area.

Currently over 900 households within the borough are living in temporary accommodation and more than 3,700 people have signed up to the council's social housing register.

Speaking of the plan to redevelop the office building sites, Mr. Kirsch said: "Even before the pandemic these offices were underutilised and now with working habits changing over the last two years this situation has increased. Similar to many organisations we are reviewing working arrangements and there is a huge opportunity to make more efficient use of our estate with long-term savings and benefits to the taxpayer."

Additionally to creating more affordable housing, the council attends to use the town centre sites to provide new commercial units for business and leisure services - which will involve improvements to outdoor spaces and provide more employment opportunities.

To progress its plans for Transform Kingston, the council is developing detailed business cases to identify the best method for developing these regeneration sites in Kingston Town Centre.

More stories

Revealed: What Kingston's new £40 million leisure centre could look like

Kingston: Cambridge Road Estate plans approved by Council