Urban scheme boost for Crest

CREST Nicholson has struck a £100m deal to spruce up Camberley town centre with a massive shopping and leisure scheme and hundreds of new flats.

Surrey Heath Borough Council has given planning consent for work to start next summer on 218 flats with car parking for more than 900, along with 120,000 square feet of retail space and a quarter as much again for restaurants and cafes.

Crest's masterplan includes a nine-screen cinema, a 30-lane bowling alley and 22,000 square feet for a health and fitness centre.

The first phase of the scheme will open by Christmas 2007.

The deal is Crest's third large urban regeneration deal in two months, following selection as lead developer to build more than 2000 homes in Bath and a similar number in Milton Keynes.

Chief executive John Callcutt said the deal was 'a further significant step forward'.