Croydon Council has chosen an outside developer to build 500 homes on the site of the authority's former offices, despite announcing it would take responsibility for the project more than a year ago.

Residential developer HUB has been awarded the contract to regenerate the Taberner House site in Park Lane into a mixed-use development of housing and commercial units, the council said this week.

Last July the council tore up a deal with long-term development partners John Laing that would have seen the company build on the site, which housed Croydon Council's headquarters before the completion of nearby Bernard Weatherill House in 2014.

At the time the council said the site would be the first major project of a newly created in-house development company - a move that would give "greater control over the scheme" and "more than double the council’s forecast financial return".

RELATED: Croydon Council announces new plans for Taberner House site

But in a press release published on Monday, Labour's cabinet member for housing Alison Butler said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming HUB to Croydon. They come with an impressive reputation for great design, sustainability, and working with local communities.

"The fact that development teams of this stature continue to come to Croydon, post-Brexit, shows the continued confidence that exists in London’s growth borough being a great place to invest."

The Labour-led administration has come under in recent weeks for not making public which sites had been chosen for development by the authority’s house-building company, Brick by Brick.

Speaking yesterday, Cllr Butler said the council had decided to “test the attitude of the wider market” after there had been a “number of issues around the site” following last year’s announcement.

The contract with HUB represented better value for money for the council, Cllr Butler said, and would allow Brick by Brick officials to concentrate on other large-scale projects in the borough, such as the redevelopment of College Green.

The planned Taberner House scheme, to be developed alongside Sterling Prize winning-architect's AHMM, will include a mix of housing for sale and rent, with at least 30 per cent as "affordable", ie. 80 per cent of market value, as well as 13,000 sq ft of "employment and commercial space".

A council spokesman said: "Brick by Brick is already working on delivering around 1,200 new and affordable homes across the borough, including several major sites in central Croydon.

"We continue to take a site-by-site approach to regeneration, and in the case of the Taberner House redevelopment we’ve negotiated an exceptional commercial deal with HUB, an award-winning residential developer.”

The project will also include a revamp of adjacent Queen's Gardens, the council said.

Construction is expected to begin early next year.

A floor-by-floor demolition of the 19-storey Taberner House was completed early in 2015.

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