Greyfriars developers speak out for the first time - and reveal apprentice scheme during construction phase

The car free zone between Grosvenor Centre and the 'Greyfriars Quarter' as envisaged by developers behind the Greyfriars Quarter plans.

Up until now they have only been known as ‘developer A,’ but Greyfriars Quarter Developments Limited, a consortium comprising R G Carter Construction and Endurance Estates, have now been revealed as the winning bidder.

The firm will now work to design and build a “leisure hub”, student flats and apartments alongside six restaurants and retail units in the town centre.

Director of Endurance Estates, Tim Holmes, said: “Our Greyfriars Quarter proposals will bring a dynamic and vibrant mixed use community to this now redundant site and provide a vital linkage between the shopping centre, the new leisure proposals and the Newland area.”

Greyfriars by drone. Pictures courtesy of Jamie Cooper Photography.

A statement from Greyfriars Development Quarters says the leisure complex will include “a multiplex cinema of up to eight screens with in-house bistro and also offering live sports screening.”

Adjacent to the hub, there will be six restaurants offering “a diverse range of food.”

The leisure hub will recreate the original Greyfriars bus station link to the Grosvenor Centre, which the developers say will enable shoppers to access a new pedestrianised area and central plaza around the hub.

Further links will be established from the Newland area to the town centre along “new ramps and steps to the Market Square” - and a new six-bay coach station would be created there for National Express to use.

In terms of accommodation the developers are proposing a mix of 500 student apartments alongside around 150 rentable flats.

Other facilities will include a health and fitness gym with an “affordable membership offer,” a 110 bed hotel, retail kiosks and commercial studios for local companies.

R G Carter are a regional construction company with a Northampton office and will be responsible for building the scheme, which is estimated to create 380 jobs.

The company promises to offer work experience and apprenticeships during the construction phases.

Endurance Estates are a Cambridge and London-based property company currently working on other mixed schemes, including a 10-acre hotel and office development in St Ives.

The consortium hopes to submit a planning application in 2017.