A three-way development joint venture between Peacocks shopping centre owner Moyallen, Surrey County Council and Woking Borough Council is seeking a principal contractor for the project to be built on land to the west of Wolsey Place shopping centre.

Their joint venture, Bandstand Square Developments, has already obtained detailed planning consent for 125,000 sq ft of retail floorspace anchored by Marks & Spencer, a 190-bed four star hotel in a 21 storey tower, 392 flats in two towers of 30 and 34 storeys.

Work on Victoria Square is set to begin in early 2017, with completion in 2020. 

Peter Robinson, managing director of Moyallen, said: “Beginning the process of appointing our principal contractor is a key stage in the delivery of Victoria Square. 

“We are seeking a contractor with the skills, expertise and understanding to deliver what will be one of the most significant developments in Surrey.  Woking town centre is going from strength-to-strength and Victoria Square is central to its future success.”

The deadline for the submission of expressions of interest is January 29. 

Interested parties should contact Billy Wallace at WH Stephens, cost managers for the development.

His decision clears the way for enabling work to start straightaway on the 347,000 sq ft regeneration scheme near to Spitalfields Market.

The developer’s plans ran into fierce opposition from local conservationists keen to protect the character of the historic Norton Folgate neighbourhood on the City fringe.

Johnson over-ruled Tower Hamlets Council, which had previously rejected the controversial scheme.

British Land plans to refurbish several existing derelict warehouse buildings and build new blocks on vacant sites to create mainly office space along with 13 shops and 40 flats.

The scheme also includes two new areas of public space, totalling 15,000 sq ft.

In a radical new policy shift, not used on this scale since Thatcher and Heseltine started London Docklands, the government will directly commission building of homes on publicly-owned land.

Its ground-breaking new policy is being rolled out as a way to fast-track homes amid growing frustration in Whitehall that large private house builders are failing to deliver enough new homes.

It will target smaller builders and contractors to deliver homes on major schemes. The plan will be backed by an extra 1.2bn fund to build 30,000 affordable starter homes on underused brownfield land by 2020.

Currently the top eight house builders provide half of all new homes. The Government now hopes to enlist an army of smaller builders to deliver its ambitious house building targets.

The first wave of up to 13,000 new homes will start on five sites in the south.

This cash will be used to help kick-start regeneration and secure planning permission in urban areas – renovating disused or under-occupied urban sites so builders can get to work without any delays.

The Prime Minister said: “Today’s package signals a huge shift in government policy. Nothing like this has been done on this scale in three decades – government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.

“Backed up with a further £1.2bn to get homes built on brownfield sites, it shows we will do everything we can to get Britain building and let more people have the security that comes with a home of their own.”