DEVELOPERS of the proposed new Woolmead shopping centre in East Street have expressed hope that the public will get behind its scheme after it was redesigned to reflect the “traditional forms” of Farnham.

F&C REIT, which is progressing the scheme on behalf of Woolmead owners Friends Life Ltd, held a public consultation on its initial plans in April last year, proposing to replace the current 1960s concrete construction with a more contemporary development incorporating high street shops and up to 100 flats.

Although these initial plans were greeted by “overwhelming” public support, according to F&C, the developer responded to concerns expressed by many that the design of the new structure and particularly its external elevations would have been too modern and took the scheme back to the drawing board.

The end result, says F&C development director Maurice Fitzgerald, is a more “traditional approach” which fulfils the requirements expressed by the landowner, local residents, civic groups such as the Farnham Society and local authorities.

An outline planning application has been submitted to Waverley Borough Council reflecting these changes and the public are again being asked for their thoughts online at www.waverley.gov.uk/planning under reference WA/2015/2387, with the latest date for comments currently given as January 29.

“The scheme itself as a principal, with retail on the ground floor and residential above, and the way its laid out and designed, has remained the same,” said Mr Fitzgerald. “But the external elevations have been changed drastically in response to public comments.

“While we believed a contemporary approach to the design would have been best for the future of the building, it became clear that locally a more traditional style of external elevation was favoured.

“Because of that we took the decision to change all of the external elevations, which involved redesigning the whole of the exterior of the building and took a tremendous amount of work as you can imagine.”

Mr Fitzgerald said substantial research went into the style of the new elevations, including assessing “in detail” Farnham’s eclectic mix of building materials, roofscapes, building widths and heights, which is reflected in the redesign.

He added early feedback to the new scheme has been positive, although did confess “one or two” people have expressed a preference for the more contemporary approach.

“The new scheme is much more in keeping with Farnham - the style is very traditional with brickwork, roof materials, the types of roof, everything of that nature, and we feel now that we have a scheme that is supported by the majority of people,” Mr Fitzgerald continued.

“The problem with design is that it is very subjective and while one style can be favoured by a number of people, others will always have a different view.

“You can’t please 100 per cent of the people, but I think we now have a scheme which incorporates what we believe is right for the building and also fulfils some of the comments we had in regards to the external elevations.”

Another element of the scheme sacrificed in the redesign is the kiosks F&C proposed opposite the shop fronts in East Street to “stimulate activity in the increased public space” with outdoor coffee bars, ice cream stalls and similar.

Mr Fitzgerald said: “A lot of people told us the kiosks would not be welcomed and do not work in Farnham, and because they were proposed on an area in the council’s ownership, it was decided that we would remove those for the purposes of our application.”

He added F&C has already had a number of discussions with retailers interested in the scheme but, with the development still awaiting outline planning permission, it is too early to sign formal pre-lets.

Despite this, Mr Fitzgerald is confident the new Woolmead will appeal to retailers, particularly as it will offer larger units than are currently available in the town. He also stressed the development will compliment rather than detract from Farnham’s existing shopping areas.

“The scheme has very much the same principle that we established at the outset - to provide larger sized units which are not catered for currently in Farnham,” he said. “We would not be seeking to attract relocations, but actually seeking to attract new retailers to the town centre.”

Asked whether the inclusion of ’N&S’ as an anchor tenant in artistic impressions of the new scheme hinted at F&C’s intention to attract Marks & Spencer away from Waverley Borough Council’s long-delayed Brightwells scheme, Mr Fitzgerald insisted this was “artistic licence by the architect, and purely coincidental”.

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F&C hopes its outline planning application will be determined by Waverley before the end of March and, if granted consent, a detailed planning application will follow two to three months later followed by the tendering of a construction partner and commencement in early 2017.