Weymouth Pavilion Development - The vote for Howard Holdings

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The vote for Howard Holdings Press releases

Dorset Echo: 29.07.05
Pavilion goes Howard’s way

Dorset Echo: 11.06.05
Two left in £100m race for pavilion

Dorset Echo: 29.07.05
Pavilion goes Howard’s way

HOWARD Holdings has won the battle to be the borough council's partner for an £89 million redevelopment of te Weymouth Pavilion and ferry terminal complex.

Nearly three hours of talks ended with an 18-14 vote by councillors which plunged development rivals Urban Catalyst into despair.

Their grim-faced team trudged out of the Guildhall last night led by chief executive Ken Dytor who said: "We are desperately disappointed and I thought we had done enough to win."

Howard Holdings UK development director Martin Jepson said: "We are absolutely delighted.

"It was a tense evening and we now have a huge amount of work and consultation to do. We have a genuine challenge to deliver something for the community and something for the world stage when the Olympics come."

It was a night when fortunes were always in the balance with many councillors backing an original recommendation favouring Urban Catalyst but even more supporting Coun Peter Farrell's amendment which forced a straight choice between the two.

Coun Farrell said later: "I think the final choice reflected public feeling and I look forward to further rounds of public consultation so we can fine tune this development."

More than a third of people backed Howard Holdings in a public consultation exercise and attention will now focus on their scheme.It includes a 130-berth marina, a new theatre containing world heritage and tourist information centres, a 125-bed four or five-star hotel with conference facilities, a new ferry terminal, 130 high quality flats and a public square and boulevard.

Earlier Weymouth Hotels, Guesthouses and Leaseholders Association chairman Keith Salmon said Weymouth only had one chance to get it right and should back Howard Holdings. Weymouth and Portland Chamber of Commerce president David Beaman urged councillors to make a decision and not delay matters by waiting for more consultation and information.

He added: "When a final partner is chosen there should be more public consultation on the scheme."
The marathon debate began with both companies making a development presentation followed by a question and answer session.

Mr Jepson said: "We have a good track record, we have a highly professional team and we are the public's preferred choice. I believe that we have captured the mood of what the people of Weymouth are looking for."
Questioned by councillors he said that if the marina could not be built it would not affect the viability of their scheme, while social housing could be built on or off-site.

Asked for guarantees about a high-quality hotel he said: "We only set our sights high. The success of the Olympic bid has only strengthened that."

Mr Dytor of Urban Catalyst said his company wanted Weymouth to be `an exemplar for sustainable development' and promised a project that Weymouth could be proud of.

The company said a four or five-star hotel was `the key to our bid', while Mr Dytor promised that nothing would be done to the old theatre until the new one was built.

The first vote of the night saw almost every councillor oppose a proposal by Coun Bill White to defer a decision on a developer for more consideration.

Councillor after councillor stressed that a decision had to be made and Coun John Nash spoke for many when he supported Howard Holdings and said: "They are who the public want. It is all there, professional.
"They are interested in the town, they want to deal with us and they want to get on with it."

Not everyone agreed and Coun Kay Wilcox and many others backed Urban Catalyst. She said they should be chosen because of the way they had listened to views, because of their experience of working with local authorities and because of their access to external funding, but there were just enough votes to tip the scales in favour of Howard Holdings.

Dorset Echo: 11.06.05
Two left in £100m race for pavilion

TWO schemes worth more than £100 million have been short-listed in the battle to redevelop Weymouth's Pavilion and ferry terminal site.

Howard Holdings and Urban Catalyst emerged as the front-runners after a consultation exercise with the public and the council's community panel produced more nearly 1,500 responses which effectively trimmed the field from an initial eight potential developers down to just two.

More than a third of people backed Howard Holdings, whose Pavilion vision includes spending £42 million on a 130-berth marina with sea wall work and a new pier.

There would also be a new theatre containing world heritage and tourist information centres, a 125-bed four-star hotel with conference facilities, health and fitness suite and a restaurant, a new ferry terminal, 130 high quality apartments and a public square and boulevard.

Howard's regional development manager Gary Charman said of being short-listed: "We are absolutely delighted.

"It is a brilliant opportunity to really put Weymouth on the map. The Pavilion site is a superb location and a new look for the site is long overdue. We are just very pleased to be in the running to help Weymouth achieve this."

Development rival Urban Catalyst has a £78 million scheme which includes a central plaza, a 1,200-seat theatre with a flexible layout to include conference facilities, a world heritage centre provided as part of a tourist visitor base and a new ferry terminal building.

There could also be a three-star, 240-bed hotel, a budget hotel, shops, cafes and bars, a 500-space multi-storey car park and homes, with 30 per cent affordable housing and the remainder built as holiday or retirement flats.

Urban development executive Nik Dockree said: "We are clearly delighted to be one of the two recommended developers.
"We are fully committed to the proposals and to working with the council and the community to carry them out. We are looking forward to working in Weymouth."

The major loser in the shortlist process was Giant GR. Their £100 million scheme including a five-star hotel attracted strong public support but it failed to meet the deadline to supply required financial information.

Giant chairman and Weymouth hotelier George Afedakis said today (sat): "I am meeting with the council next week to discuss the situation and to give them the financial information and any other information they want about Giant.

"We hope that they will still consider us for the Pavilion development. We were only delayed because of our attempts to produce the best possible development company."

But Weymouth and Portland environment director Richard Burgess said that Giant only notified the council of difficulties, changes to their team and a possible new development partner on June 3.

Council staff had, therefore, not had an opportunity to interview them in the same depth as other development teams and he added: "It is also questionable if it would be fair on other parties to afford one applicant a second opportunity."
He said the decision-making meeting would have to consider whether Giant should be debarred from further consideration because it had failed to meet deadlines. Treating them differently might be challenged by rivals, he said.

He added that councillors would be advised that Giant be assessed on the basis of information submitted by the deadline because "to do other than this would be both unfair to the other interested parties and leave the council open to challenge".

Councillors will also be told there was high public support for redevelopment of the area and a more flexible replacement theatre-leisure facility.

Economy committee chairman Coun Peter Farrell said: "A clear public preference has emerged for one developer, Howard Holdings."

He added that is was particularly pleasing that there was "overwhelming support" for the principle of redevelopment.

Councillors will recommend their preferred choice of developer when the community and economy committees meet jointly at the Guildhall on June 20. Their choice will then be discussed later by management committee colleagues.