Laindon’s long wait is over as partners celebrate the official Ground Break!

Swan/ NU living and partners are delighted to have broken ground on Laindon Place, their regeneration of the Laindon Shopping Centre, marking works beginning on the regeneration.

Swan/NU’s Executive Director of Development and Regeneration, Geoff Pearce was joined by local MP for Basildon and Billericay John Baron, as well as Cllr Andrew Baggott, Leader Basildon Borough Council, Cllr David Dadds, Mayor of Basildon and Mark Francois MP for Rayleigh & Wickford, as well as members of the local community to celebrate this milestone.

This event celebrates Swan overcoming decades of failed attempts by others to regenerate the Laindon Shopping Centre and the persistence and ambition of Swan and its partners were echoed during the day. The local community including residents and businesses were extremely positive and delighted that Swan are making this happen.

Laindon Place will transform the dilapidated and unattractive inward-looking shopping centre into a new high street including new shops, a health centre and even a new Swan Office, to which Billericay based staff will relocate. There will be stylish new homes too, built by NU living, Swan’s in-house developer, all set in high-quality public space. The local community have been widely consulted and Laindon Place has been designed to be at the heart of a revitalised Laindon, benefitting existing and new residents. 

Geoff Pearce, Swan’s Executive Director of Development and Regeneration commented:

“Swan has been operating in Basildon and Laindon for almost 25 years now and we manage over 1,500 homes surrounding the Laindon Centre. As a result, we have an unwavering commitment to seeing the successful regeneration of the centre. We’ve taken the time to widely consult the local residents and stakeholders and this has meant that we are confident that Laindon Place will really deliver for the local community. Not only will we maintain essential local services during the regeneration work but, when complete, Laindon Place will bring a new High Street with shops, a new medical centre, a Swan office to which our staff from Billericay will relocate to, as well as fantastic new public realm and 224 new homes.”

John Baron, MP for Basildon and Billericay said:

“My congratulations to Swan Housing, Basildon Council and all involved for their hard work in now moving this redevelopment forward. It’s a great plan and we now look forward to seeing it put into action.”

Cllr Tony Hedley, Basildon Council’s Chairman of the Regeneration Committee said:

“The groundbreaking event marked an exciting step forward for Swan Housing. The redevelopment of Laindon Shopping Centre will create a modern and vibrant facility that will benefit the local community for years to come.”

Since launching the initial commercial marketing strategy in January this year, Swan have been delighted to receive over 60 enquiries from individuals and businesses interested in leasing the new retail units in Phase 1. With works now commencing on site, this means that Swan expect the Shopping Centre to be vacant by February 2019 allowing for full demolition to take place shortly afterwards.

Swan expects to maintain essential services throughout the regeneration by delivering temporary retail space to allow key services to be continued. Swan are confident that they will be able to achieve a good mix of retailers, homes and public space to make Laindon Place attractive to local people and a new heart of the community at Laindon.

You can watch the Laindon video here: Laindon Regeneration Vision

There is also more information on the website here: Laindon Futures website