The project will be completed in 2012.
 
It will provide a new cultural focus for Ilford town centre, based on a strikingly designed public square with retail and leisure facilities. The scheme will also create over 500 new homes for key-worker and private occupiers on an area of underused land.
 
An integral part of the project will be the replacement of Ilford’s Kenneth More Theatre with a modern theatre auditorium with additional space for the performing arts. The 300 seat theatre will include new build facilities carefully integrated with the concert hall in the Grade II listed Town Hall. The highly glazed theatre will be open during the day offering a public thoroughfare from the existing Town Hall and the town centre plus a lower foyer event space and cafe.
 
Vicky Trietline, partner at project adviser Drivers Jonas, said: “This is an exciting joint venture that will add considerable value to the wider community of Ilford and Redbridge. The provision of modern theatre facilities in the town centre and the additional retail and leisure space will boost Ilford’s competitiveness in the region. The high-quality residential housing scheme of both private and shared ownership units will further contribute to the regeneration of Ilford’s Metropolitan Town Centre.”