Latest news with #SevenCapital
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bid to make Oasis centre asset of community value
A campaign group which wants a leisure centre to become a community asset say current development plans will make it a "shadow of its former self". Swindon's Oasis Leisure Centre closed during the pandemic and is due to be redeveloped by leaseholders Seven Capital. The firm plans to build 700 homes on the site while also restoring its dome and pool, which are listed. The proposals also include knocking down a sports hall without replacement. Swindon Borough Council confirmed it is in the process of "determining" a nomination from campaign group Save Oasis Swindon for the leisure centre to become an asset of community value. "We're concerned that without a hall and surrounded by flats, it's going to be a shadow of its former self," said Neil Robinson, from the campaign group. He told the BBC the asset of community value application will "keep pressure on the council and Seven Capital to revisit these plans and include a hall in them". The campaign group previously put an asset of community value bid covering just the sports hall, but this was rejected. Speaking about that decision, the council's cabinet member for finance Kevin Small said the nomination "did not meet the required tests". The campaign group has now put in a fresh bid for the wider site and says it has included further evidence. More news stories for Wiltshire Listen to the latest news for Wiltshire Mr Robinson says he does not feel the current plans are enough for Swindon and its "iconic" leisure centre. "It should be restore the Oasis leisure centre in full first - and then build the houses," he said. "Not reduce it." The campaign group hopes people in Swindon would have a "little more control" over the centre's future if it did become an asset of community value, Mr Robinson said. Seven Capital has not responded to the application. Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Oasis renovation is our priority, says developer Last attempt to save Oasis hall before demolition Sporting body objects to loss of indoor facilities Oasis proposals Save Oasis Swindon
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Birmingham developer turns to London with trio of residential schemes worth total of £1 billion
Birmingham property developer SevenCapital has revealed plans for a £1 billion push into the London residential market with three major projects in Kensington, Islington and the Isle of Dogs providing more than 1,000 new homes. The first £500 million scheme, called 100 Kensington, already has planning consent and will create 462 new homes in an area of London with notoriously low levels of new housebuilding. The other two projects are currently in the planning process, with £290 million Klein's Wharf in the Isle of Dogs, providing 375 new homes, and the £210 million Archway Campus in Islington, comprised of 178 new homes of which over 50% are affordable. SevenCapital was founded in 2009 by chairman Bal Sohal and managing director Damien Siviter and has a £2.1 billion portfolio of completed and pipeline projects mainly focussed on the Midlands. To deliver 100 Kensington SevenCapitalhas teamed up with European property investment manager MARK, which already has a portfolio of major projects in central London. The development on the junction of West Cromwell Road and Warwick Road next to the Tesco superstore was masterplanned by John McAslan & Partners with detailed design by Corstorphine & Wright and interiors by design practice Conran & Partners. The1.7 hectare site will provide 462 new homes, including 276 market sale apartments and 186 affordable homes in a complex including a 29-storey residential tower, which will become the tallest residential building in the borough. There will also be 15,000 leisure facility with a 20 metre pool, gym and fitness studio in a sports club that residents can join at a discounted rate of around £30 a month, as well as a concierge service, 25,000 sq ft. retail and office space and a landscaped podium garden above the Tesco car park. Prices for one bed apartments are expected to start from £895,000 at launch in the coming weeks with pricing around £1,700 per sq ft. Completion is expected in early 2027. James Moody, chief operating officer of SevenCapital, said the company had already received around 500 enquiries, many from the UK market but also potential buyers in the Far East, Middle East and Africa. A second site on the Isle of Dogs fronting on the Thames at Klein's wharf is currently with planners at Tower Hamlets council. The proposal is for 375 new homes across three buildings, including 40% designated affordable homes. The wharf is next to the Millwall Outer Dock giving the homes on the upper floors open water views over the Thames and dock basin. The proposals for the scheme include a riverside café, a community hub and over 50,000 of public realm with new public access from Westferry Road to the River Thames. The historic industrial site was originally occupied by the vast Victorian-era Fenner's Oil and Paint Refinery, founded by Nathaniel and Henry Fenner in 1856, which operated up until the early Thirties, providing fuel and paint for the ships that berthed in London Docklands. The third project is on a 1.47 hectare site off Archway Road in Islington, overlooking Archway Park, and is also in the planning system with Islington council. The scheme, known as Archway Campus is centred on a former Victorian hospital building that began its life as The Holborn and Finsbury Union Workhouse Infirmary. It was designed by Victorian architect Henry Saxon Snell in the decorative Gothic-Revival style that echoes St Pancras Station. Built between 1877-79 the landmark complex has a main and side wings with grand Gothic-Revival architectural features including pointed arches, finials, lancet windows and hood moulds. It became part of Whittington Hospital in 1948 but the site was sold by the NHS in 1998 to the Middlesex University and University College London and it became, a medical training ground for students. In 2014 the campus was sold to housing association Peabody and after being vacant for over a decade it was acquired by SevenCapital who devised proposals and submitted a planning application in late 2024. The proposals will refurbish the historic buildings and redevelop the remainder of the site to provide 178 newly built and converted homes, 51% of which will be affordable. The scheme will include student accommodation in a new building providing 242 student rooms. The architectural masterplan was drawn up by Stirling Prize Winner Niall McLaughlin Architects, working alongside GRID. Damien Siviter, group managing director of SevenCapital said: 'After building our presence in Birmingham and the Midlands we are now broadening our operations and expanding into London and the South East. Robustly planned and designed our new London developments will benefit from our exemplary track record with over 15 years of continuous deliverance.' James Moody said 'Our expansion strategy in the London marketplace is focused on designing, creating and delivering wonderful new homes over a select number of high quality developments.'
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Famous comedian urges residents to help save Oasis sports hall
A writer a stand-up comedian has posted a video, rallying the Save Oasis campaign in Swindon. Ivo Graham posted a video, informing viewers that it is the 'final day to voice objections to the permanent demise' of the Oasis leisure centre. In the video, Ivo is wearing a bucket hat and a Swindon Town Football Club replica kit. The second half of the video shows Ivo in a hot tub wearing an orange swim cap, when he said: 'as a child, about as exciting as it got was spending my weekends at the Oasis Leisure Centre where I would shriek on the water slides. 'The long future of this place is being decided this week, and it is not looking good, these places are important for community and sport. 'If you care about Swindon or water slides, or if the soul of where you grew up is being ripped up and sold to make flats, then check out Save Oasis Swindon.' Ivo Graham is a long time Swindon Town fan and graduated from Eton College in Oxford. Save the Oasis! @SaveOasis — Ivo Graham (@IvoGraham) March 26, 2025 Save Oasis Swindon have also released a statement in line with the final day, Wednesday, March 26, for residents to submit objections against the plans to demolish the sports hall and not replace it. They said: 'The Multi-Purpose Hall hosted a wide variety of sports, boxing matches, comedy acts, music and more over its nearly 50-year lifespan. Seven Capital Intend to demolish it and not replace it. They have claimed viability but have never produced any evidence of their claims. They haven't even produced a feasibility study. Yet there is funding available from bodies like Sport England. 'Wednesday 26th March is the final day for people to submit their comments and objections against the plans to demolish the Sports Hall and not replace it. 'Sport England, South Swindon Parish Council, and many residents have already objected. Add your name to the list before it is too late. 'There is also a pending Asset of Community Value application for the Hall, so the pressure is really on Swindon Borough Council Planning department to approve this and decline the application to demolish the existing hall, unless a restoration or rebuild is proposed on the same site. 'The real reason Seven Capital don't want a Hall at Oasis is because it decreases their land available for apartments. 'The Oasis put Swindon on the map, please help to stop it becoming hemmed in by hundreds of flats and a shadow of its former self. The Oasis is a Swindon Institution and a famous site - to have an Oasis without a Hall is quite frankly unthinkable.'
BBC News
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Film crews are spotted at Swindon's Oasis Leisure Centre
A large film production is currently under way at the closed Oasis Leisure Centre, well-known for its listed centre in Swindon is in need of refurbishment and is the subject of a long campaign and planning filming on the site is rumoured to be for a sci-fi series, but security there told a BBC reporter they could not say anything about the leaseholders of the site, Seven Capital, have declined to comment. Neil Robinson - founder of the Save Oasis Swindon campaign - said they got a social media message last month saying diggers had been seen in front of the centre."We went over to the Oasis and we spoke to them and they said they were a film company and they were preparing for filming for a sci-fi series," said Mr told him they would be there for a couple of BBC reporter was not allowed in or given any information, but saw huge lights, catering crew and sound hopes are for the site to re-open as a leisure centre in 2026 after being closed since 2020.
