The long-awaited demolition of Guildford town centre’s former Debenhams building is set to go ahead in February. The project is part of a major riverside housing and retail development, including 185 homes, that is set to be built in its place.
Native land, the developers behind the new project announced on its website that a lot is set to change on the site of the former retail store in the next few months.
The recently posted developer update read: “This month, the existing building is being scaffolded and ‘wrapped’ in a polythene sheeting, with demolition activities commencing in February. Demolition is programmed to complete by the end of August 2025.”
With plans approved for the site in November 2022, once finished, it will be made up of 185 private homes, as well as over twenty thousand square feet of restaurant and business spaces. Additionally, an acre of new public walkways and gardens on the banks of the River Wey are planned, which should provide direct walking access to the High Street for the first time since the mid 20th Century. Also, there is potential for a cinema to be included onsite.
Construction on the site began in April 2024, and has involved ‘gutting’ the building of its interior. According to Native Land, in January: “Internal and external construction work continues at St Mary’s Wharf to prepare the former Debenhams building for demolition.”
Images of what the new development at the site will look like
(Image: Native Land)
The building has long been a dominant feautre on Guildford’s high street, since being built in the 1960s. Despite being vacant since 2021, the building was nominated for Guildford Building of the Year in 2023.
Hopefully, St Mary’s Wharf will impress the Guildford Design Awards judges as much as its predecessor. And, if it can’t do that, it should impress those looking to buy a house in Guildford in the next decade as the development will offer a range of one to three bedroom riverside homes, five of these were designated as affordable within planning documents.
Being so close to Guildford Train Station, which will give the apartments excellent connections to London, Native Land has stated they are expecting a strong demand from those in the housing market.
While house-hunters in Guildford may be in luck, in 2022 the initial planning stages of this development saw local residents divided in their support for St Mary’s Wharf, with 189 letters of objection and 149 in favour sent in. Despite this, construction has been rolling ahead at pace, with the former Debenhams building set to be no more by the summer of this year.