City & Country completes purchase of Kingswood, Surrey

City & Country has this week completed the purchase of the 47.5-acre Kingswood site in Surrey from Legal & General. The completion of the purchase follows the housebuilder’s announcement of its intention to acquire the site in spring this year, with contracts having been exchanged in May 2025.

The landmark deal will see City & Country redevelop the site to offer a mix of residential, retirement living and leisure space, set around a striking Grade II* listed building and the locally listed former St Monica’s School. New plans will see the developer resubmit for planning permission in the Autumn to deliver 166 private homes and 116 retirement properties, varying the site’s existing planning consent for a retirement village.

Wider plans for Kingswood include the creation of a leisure centre, re-using some of the existing accommodation, which includes a swimming pool, tennis courts and ancillary facilities. Furthermore, City & Country intends to eventually restore the former L&G House and St Monicas School into high quality homes, and in the interim plans to offer space for use as offices and for co-working.

Simon Marner, Land and Property Director for City & Country, comments: “We are extremely pleased to have completed the purchase of Kingswood – a site of significant local interest that has been vacant for a considerable amount of time, with the heritage buildings falling into disrepair. The site has great potential for us to deliver a high-class development to provide housing and facilities to complement the local area and for the benefit of the local community. Existing planning permission has been in place for half a decade, and we hope that with this acquisition City & Country can finally deliver on longstanding ambitions for Kingswood.

“In the coming months, we will be preparing detailed plans for Kingswood, to enable us to submit new planning applications. These will be based on the principles of the already consented care home scheme, but which will provide a different mix of uses, making the scheme more viable and deliverable. City & Country has a long track record in handling complex heritage sites such as Kingswood and look forward to embarking on this exciting new project.”

Prior to City & Country’s acquisition of Kingswood, the site was used as Legal & General’s HQ and has stood empty since 2018. The developer hopes that its redevelopment ambitions will restore the site to its former glory and eventually become an asset to the surrounding community.

Kingswood is located within the borough of Reigate and Banstead, with local amenities located nearby including a village store, pub, cafes and restaurants. Nearby Kingswood Station offers a direct link to London Bridge.

City & Country is responsible for a number of landmark schemes located on historic sites across the south of England, including The 1840, a conversion of a Grade II Listed Victorian Hospital in Wandsworth; King Edward VII Estate, the former tuberculosis sanatorium opened by its namesake in 1980; and its latest project, the redevelopment of the historic Pitman Press in Bath.

For further information about City & Country, please visit https://www.cityandcountry.co.uk/.