WSCC - TH - Horsham Enterprise Park - Development Partner Procurement - AWARD

Horsham Enterprise Park

West Sussex County Council ("the Council") purchased the 7.5 ha former Novartis Pharmaceuticals site in Horsham in December 2016. The site originally comprised a range of offices, laboratories and workshops as part of Novartis' operations. It is now vacant and most of the buildings have been demolished.

Four buildings have been retained. These include two gate house buildings and a 1930s Art Deco style building and its extensions (Buildings 3 and 36) that were used for offices. The central structure is locally listed, and it is assumed it will be retained.

The key driver for the Council's acquisition is to build on the site's long-established position as a major employment generator. As such, the Council is committed to ensuring the site makes a significant contribution to creating and supporting jobs and contributing to the West Sussex economy.

In 2020 the Council secured outline planning permission for the redevelopment of the site for up to 300 dwellings (C3) including the conversion of Buildings 3 and 36 and up to 25,000 sq.m of employment space (B1), together with the provision of 618 sq.m of flexible commercial/community space (A1, A2, A3 and D1 Crèche) within the ground floor of converted Building 36.

The Council is now seeking a partner or consortium to deliver the scheme to a high standard and achieve its key objectives of creating new job opportunities, homes and improved local infrastructure. It is envisaged the scheme will have strong sustainable credentials and encourage use of public transport in an attractive environment that retains existing mature trees.

The proposed structure of the transaction will allow the partner to deliver the initial phase of residential development immediately and draw down commercial phases either speculatively or when suitable occupiers are secured. Interested parties should refer to Savills' marketing brochure and the project dataroom for further details.