IN Brief:
- Bennett Construction will manage the main building phase of the 180-home St Mary’s Wharf development.
- Native Land has secured £132m in development financing, comprising senior and mezzanine facilities.
- The riverside scheme includes public gardens, retail space and a pedestrian route beside the River Wey.
Bennett Construction has been appointed by Native Land to deliver the principal construction phase of St Mary’s Wharf, a 180-home development on the River Wey in Guildford town centre. The appointment follows completion of £132m in development financing and earlier enabling works on the 1.7-acre brownfield site, allowing construction to move from ground and infrastructure preparation to the main building programme.
The financing consists of a £100m senior debt facility from NatWest and £32m in mezzanine funding from the National Housing Bank, a subsidiary of Homes England. These are financing facilities for the wider development, not the announced value of Bennett’s construction contract. Bennett’s separate construction contract value has not been disclosed.
Bennett will take control of site management and begin preparatory activities immediately, with the principal construction phase expected to start in the coming weeks. The scheme covers approximately 200,000 sq ft and comprises 180 homes in two buildings, alongside retail and dining space, public gardens and access along the waterfront. Native Land expects the development to replace a long-vacant site and connect the river more effectively with Guildford’s existing town centre.
The project has been progressing in stages since planning consent was secured in 2022. Demolition, basement and ground-floor infrastructure, flood protection and environmental works have already been undertaken, separating some of the highest-risk early construction operations from the newly appointed main building phase. A previous £18.5m financing arrangement with Grosvenor, announced in 2024, supported that infrastructure work before the latest facilities were completed.
Construction beside the River Wey introduces design and sequencing considerations different from those on a conventional inland residential plot. The announced flood protection and below-ground works form part of the foundations for subsequent building delivery, while access arrangements must account for the river frontage and the surrounding urban streets. Final temporary works and construction sequencing will have to integrate the existing basement infrastructure with the new buildings.
The completed development will include an acre of public gardens and a continuous riverside walk, with new walking and cycling connections towards the High Street. These elements form part of the wider site programme rather than incidental landscaping after the homes are finished. They will require coordination with building access, commercial frontages, drainage and the boundary between private development and publicly accessible space.
Architect Squire & Partners and landscape architect Gillespies have designed the buildings and public realm. Native Land says the development will incorporate a fossil-fuel-free energy strategy, biodiversity enhancements and extensive cycle provision. It has not disclosed a detailed plant schedule, operational energy model or independently verified carbon assessment in the current announcement, so the environmental specification remains described at strategy level.
The 180 homes will include integrated affordable housing, requiring common access and public realm works to serve buildings occupied under different tenures. The confirmed financing is intended to allow the project to proceed through its next stage, but does not remove the usual dependencies on programme delivery, statutory inspections and completion of work before homes can be occupied.
Native Land’s development director Robert Harris said the company had already completed major groundwork and flood protection measures, and that the financing permitted the next construction stage to begin. Bennett managing director Mark Keyes emphasised the project’s residential and mixed-use delivery requirements. The contractor will now manage the transition from earlier site preparation to the construction of the buildings and their associated public realm.
The first sales launch is planned for spring 2027, while overall completion is currently anticipated before the end of 2028. Those dates are developer targets rather than evidence that building work has already reached the superstructure stage. Bennett’s appointment and the completed financing provide the latest confirmed progress towards delivering the riverside scheme.
