It is show time for Croydon’s cultural redevelopment with a renowned team booked to make sure it takes centre stage.

Rick Mather Architects has worked on some of the country’s biggest artistic projects, including at the Southbank Centre and Hammersmith’s Lyric Theatre.

The practice has teamed up with Croydon-based consultancy firm Mott MacDonald, which was the lead engineering consultant for the Sage Music Centre in Gateshead and for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, and together they will be overseeing the design of a revitalised College Green.

Its aim is to create a cultural quarter including homes, offices, shops and restaurants with a refurbished Fairfield Halls at the heart.

The scheme will create a regenerated public space and provide a through route to and from East Croydon station, quickly connecting visitors with Queens Gardens, the Clocktower, Surrey Street and Exchange Square.

Work to integrate Fairfield Halls into the scheme includes the potential to create a new entrance on the Ashcroft side of the building on to College Green.

Councillor Alison Butler, Croydon Council’s cabinet member for homes and regeneration, said: "I think this is a really exciting step forward.

"This site is absolutely essential for the town with two of our great assets Fairfield Halls and Croydon College.

"What we very much hope to come out of this is that when you come out of East Croydon there is a walkway coming through to connect everything together.

"And for Fairfield Halls, stripping it back and making it the great cultural building that it has got the potential to be."

Croydon Council’s cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport Councillor Timothy Godfrey said: "It’s fantastic news because it is the council delivering on its promises.

"I’m over the moon about it.

"Fairfield’s chief executive Simon Thomsett is starting the discussions with Mott MacDonald as I speak and he will be fulltime on the project.

"It’s about what we can achieve in the short term with boilers and other mechanical aspects and then the long term work over six months or a year.

"There is a three year window [for the project] and it gives us the window to look at the wider site.

He added: "It’s an exciting opportunity for the different landowners like Croydon College, the law courts and some of the developers that own properties there.

"The council is absolutely serious about it and now is the time to get on board."