Norwich City Council secures extra £19m for Anglia Square works
The revamp's set to cost £300 million
An extra £19m in government funding has been secured by Norwich's City Hall toward its demolition of Anglia Square.
Homes England has agreed to provide the additional cash after Norwich City Council bought the site last month.
The £300m revamp of Anglia Square, which would have seen up to 1,100 new homes built along with office, retail and leisure space, was scrapped by its previous developers as the scheme was no longer financially viable.
The council has now been awarded a total of £34m by the government to cover the costs of its purchase as well as demolition works.
City Hall launched its bid to bring the site into public ownership last year after Weston Homes backed out of the project due to delays having pushed up costs.
The site was bought by asset management company Columbia Threadneedle for £7.5m in 2014, but the collapse of the Weston Homes plan means the future of the 11.4-acre site has been shrouded in uncertainty for many months.
The funding for the purchase of the site from Columbia Threadneedle came from a funding pot of £15m the council had already been assigned by Homes England.
Homes England has now agreed to provide an additional £19m for works to get under way.
Norwich City Council will stick largely to the pre-approved Weston Homes designs for the site but will make some adjustments, including an increase in the amount of affordable housing.
Development plans include up to 1,100 new homes, a variety of retail, office and leisure spaces with landscaped gardens and a new neighbourhood centre.
The existing businesses at Anglia Square will be relocated when demolition work starts in the spring.
The council plans to open a new box park – a food and retail centre made out of refitted shipping containers – beneath the flyover to the nearby shops at the left of the entrance to Anglia Square.