Work starts on 180-acre site including Designer Outlet Cotswolds

Construction work has just begun on a 180-acre mixed-use development site in Tewkesbury, which is to feature new fashion and lifestyle centre, Designer Outlet Cotswolds, set to open in 2022.

Led by Cheltenham-based property developer Robert Hitchins, Designer Outlet Cotswolds will be home to up to 90 shops, restaurants and cafes in an ‘attractive Cotswold-style village environment’, located immediately adjacent to junction 9 of the M5.

The development will also include the largest Dobbies Garden Centre in the south west, 850 homes, as well as a school, local centre and recreation facilities.

The site for the major development is located near Tewkesbury and fronts onto the A46 trunk road that links the M5 to the M42. It is also within walking distance of the Ashchurch-for-Tewkesbury railway station, which is on the main line between Bristol and Birmingham.

Simon Tothill, property and development director of Robert Hitchins, said: ‘We’re proud to be delivering such an attractive development into the Tewkesbury area and to be creating more than 1,000 jobs in the local area.

‘It’s important that such developments progress as efficiently as possible through the planning and construction stages to create employment opportunities, especially to enable the area to bounce back from the effects of the pandemic.

‘These are ‘real jobs’ and we all need to work together to promote success. As a result, our mixed-use scheme will be a great addition to this part of the West Country.’

Robert Hitchins is working with ROS Retail Outlet Shipping on Designer Outlet Cotswolds, a Vienna-headquartered company which specialises in developing, managing operating innovative shopping concepts.

Worcestershire-based Montel Civil Engineering has been appointed by Robert Hitchins as the main contractor for the first phase of infrastructure works on the development.

While the architect for Designer Outlet Cotswolds and the Dobbies Garden Centre is Roberts Limbrick, based in Gloucester.

Follow SoGlos on LinkedIn and sign-up to the weekly SoGlos business newsletter for the very latest Gloucestershire business news stories.