Cityheart and East Herts Council enter development partnership

Cityheart, the housing, regeneration and placemaking development specialist, has entered into a development agreement with East Herts District Council to deliver a transformational mixed-use town centre redevelopment on the Old River Lane site in Bishop’s Stortford.

The development agreement follows Cityheart’s original appointment as preferred development partner for the 4-acre site via an OJEU compliant procurement competition in 2019.

Cityheart will now create a detailed masterplan for the site, which is fully owned by East Herts District Council.

The vision is to create a thriving residential and commercial community, comprising new homes and offices. Retail and workspace units will be situated on the ground floors of the residential blocks, and the site will benefit from car parking spaces to service residents and office workers.

A new internal road, accessed from Link Road to the west of the site will provide a new access point into the existing Waitrose car park. The intention is to alleviate traffic flow on Old River Lane and provide access for residents of the new development.

Following previous advice received from the Local Planning Authority, Cityheart is working closely with design partners to ensure the size, scale and materiality of the proposed development will be in keeping with its overall surroundings, including the Waytemore Castle Mound adjacent to the site.

Cityheart will be working with an experienced design and build team to deliver the scheme, including Kier Construction, main contractor; Howells, architect; MM Management, project manager and quantity surveyor; Geraint John Planning; Caneparo, transport Engineer; Curtins, civil and structural engineers and flood consultants; Ridge, M&E consultants; DEP, landscape architects; Cotswold Archaeology, heritage consultants.

Andrew Sanderson, development director at Cityheart, commented: “Our multi-faceted redevelopment of the Old River Lane site will breathe new life into the centre of Bishop’s Stortford. Working together with our development partners, East Herts District Council, we are collaborating with a highly experienced project team to make the most of this key site, developing an exceptional place to live and work amid historic surroundings. We look forward to finalising our masterplan and getting spades in the ground.”

East Herts District Council will be funding an extensive new public realm south of the site to anchor the overall scheme. The public realm works would be undertaken by Cityheart on behalf of East Herts District Council and delivered at the same time as the rest of the development works to minimise disruption.

Ben Crystall, Leader of East Herts Council and Chair of the Old River Lane Delivery Board added “With the signing of the Development Agreement the Old River Lane project has taken a significant step forward. We are really looking forward to working with Cityheart in the months ahead to ensure Bishop’s Stortford continues to be a destination town centre. Now the agreement is signed it also confirms that Water Lane Hall is outside of the development and no longer needs to be demolished which I know many residents will be pleased about”

All partners will now commence an inclusive public consultation on the proposals to gather feedback from the public, while commencing pre-planning application meetings with the Local Planning Authority.