“Striking” plans to transform Cheltenham’s long-empty Cavendish House site into a vibrant town centre destination, complete with a grand public square, elegant shopping arcades, cafés, restaurants, homes and striking public spaces, have been unveiled.

The visionary scheme for the Promenade landmark known as “Cavendish Exchange” has been developed by Cynthia Hartmann, founder and creative director of Interior Design CH.

It is part of her graduate studies at the University of Gloucestershire, and has since been supported by Cheltenham Civic Society (CCS), which has helped test its commercial and financial viability.

No formal planning application is expected to be submitted for this scheme but the ambitious £100 million proposal reimagines one of the spa town’s most prominent and problematic vacant buildings as a lively mixed-use quarter, reconnecting the Promenade with Regent Street and the Everyman Theatre.

The Civic Society says the plans represent a bold and detailed iteration of the initial concept put forward by them in 2024 as part of its long-running campaign to make sure that any development proposal will benefit the town, not just the investors.

This development proposal would create what many believe Cheltenham has long lacked – a true civic heart and town square capable of bringing new life, energy and footfall into the town centre, they said.

And they believe it would not only bring life to the CavHouse site itself, but it would supercharge the economy of adjoining streets, notably Regent Street and the High Street.

The unveiling of the scheme also raises uncomfortable questions for site owner Canada Life, which has spent years without bringing forward a deliverable vision or redevelopment proposal.

The building’s former occupiers, House of Fraser, closed their doors in April 2024 but it is understood talks about the building’s future began more than six year ago.

Hartmann’s proposed redevelopment would involve selective demolition of the existing Cavendish House building to create a dramatic new public square opening directly off the Promenade.

This elegant and welcoming space is designed to reconnect some of Cheltenham’s most important streets for the first time in generations.

At the heart of the scheme is a complete reimagining of the building’s tired 1960s façade. In its place, Hartmann’s design introduces a series of elegant, glazed double-height arches, creating a far more refined and visually striking frontage befitting Cheltenham’s Regency character and international reputation, according to the Civic Society.

A grand central archway would form a prestigious pedestrian route from the Promenade through into the new square and onwards to Regent Street and the Everyman Theatre – creating a natural flow of movement, activity and footfall across the town centre.

The development would bring together a lively mix of uses designed to keep the area active throughout the day and evening.

At ground-floor level, shops, cafés and restaurants would animate both the Promenade frontage and the new public square, while upper floors would accommodate a major food hall or destination restaurant alongside high-quality residential apartments overlooking the Promenade and the square.

The plans also include the sensitive incorporation of surviving Regency façades on the corner of Regent Street and County Court Road into a separate standalone building within the square. This space could accommodate offices, cultural uses or potentially even a future headquarters for a Cheltenham Town Council as local government reorganisation proceeds in the coming years.

Hartmann said: “Fifteen years of working as an interior designer in buildings teaches you to read them differently. You understand how people move through space, where they linger, where they leave.

“Cavendish House has the presence of a landmark and the character of a barrier. What drives people away is the decades of architectural compromise layered over it.

“It occupies one of the most strategic and prestigious sites in Cheltenham, and for years, it has worked against both the streets that define it and the legacy of the town.

“This proposal sets out to exchange that: reconnecting streets, restoring a frontage, and creating the kind of mixed-use public destination that successful town centres are built around. A passage. A square. A gathering place that gives the Promenade and Regent Street something to connect to for the first time in a generation. Cavendish Exchange could become that missing heart of the town.

“The architecture of Cheltenham already knows what it wants to be. This project simply completes the sentence.”

The Civic Society has worked closely with Hartmann throughout the project, helping to test and refine the proposals and assess the commercial reality behind the vision.

Andrew Booton, the Civic Society’s chairman, said the scheme demonstrates that ambitious regeneration in Cheltenham is both possible and financially achievable.

“We did not want this to be dismissed as simply a student exercise or an unrealistic fantasy scheme,” he said.

“We have examined the development numbers carefully and believe the proposal is entirely viable in commercial terms. The scheme would create a high value, mixed-use destination featuring new homes, hospitality, retail and public space in one of the most strategically important locations in Gloucestershire.

“It has the potential to generate substantial long-term rental income, significant new council tax revenues and millions of pounds in additional spending power for businesses across Cheltenham town centre.”

But Booton said the scheme also highlighted the extraordinary lack of progress made by current site owner Canada Life since long before the closure of Cavendish House.

“The embarrassing reality is that a single architectural student, working part-time over six months, has succeeded in producing a coherent, attractive and deliverable vision for this site,” he said.

“Measured against that, Canada Life appears to have spent six years achieving effectively nothing – while their property has become a symbol of stagnation, drift and decline in the town centre.

“This proposal proves that the site is not difficult to redevelop: in fact it brims with potential. What has been missing is imagination, urgency and leadership.”

Booton said Cheltenham Civic Society is now urging Canada Life either to work constructively with the ideas behind Cavendish Exchange or to sell the site to a developer that is prepared to move quickly.

“Cheltenham cannot afford another six years of excuses while one of the most important sites in the town centre sits empty and decaying,” he said.

“This town deserves ambition. It deserves confidence. And it deserves a town centre that reflects Cheltenham at its very best.”

A spokesperson for Canada Life Asset Management, owners of Cavendish House, said they continue to work closely with the town’s planners.

“The next stage of Cavendish House’s redevelopment, involving the removal of the bridge link to Regent Arcade, has now been successfully completed,” they said.

“This is a critical step in enabling the wider regeneration of Cavendish House, and we continue to work closely with Cheltenham Borough Council through an updated pre-application planning process.”

By Carmelo Garcia, local democracy reporter for Gloucestershire. carmelo.garcia@reachplc.com

*The Raikes Journal is the only independent news outlet in Gloucestershire approved to use the copy of the BBC local government reporting service. Why? Only independent, credible journalistically-led platforms that meet the BBC’s high standards win that permission.

A director who stored more than 1,000 kg of explosives illegally on his business premises has been fined more than £25,000.

Chase James Gardiner, 42, of Hales Road, Cheltenham, and the sole director of Platinum Home Cinema (also Hales Road), was fined £3,986 with the business fined £11,200 and ordered to pay costs of £10,634.30.

The total fine paid being £25,820.30. Gardiner, who appeared in Cheltenham Magistrates Court on Tuesday 26 May, previously pleaded guilty to four charges of April 22 2026.

Platinum Home Cinema sold fireworks and organised displays under the trading name Chase Lane Fireworks and the charges the charges related to events that took place in July 2024.

Trading Standards officers visited a working livery yard in Shurdington, near Cheltenham, in July 2024 and found three shipping containers containing fireworks with a net mass of explosives of 1,220kg.

One of the licensed stores was found to be overstocked by 36 per cent, explosives were also stored in an unlicensed lo…

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The council has been working on applying for the status which would recognise the ancient woodland and place it in the same league as places such as Yellowstone or Florida’s Everglades in the USA and the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

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A report reflecting on the major regeneration project was scrutinised by councillors at Gloucester City Council earlier this week, with bosses quizzed over the costs of the project.

Councillor Alastair Chambers (I, Matson, Robinswood and White City) asked whether the total value of the project was still £107m as was originally budgeted for.

Andy Hearne, the head of place at Gloucester City Council, explained that was the original figure approved by the cabinet.

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The scheme, by the British arm of the German discount supermarket Lidl, includes a 1,975 sqm store and will have 118 car parking spaces including 12 parent and child spaces and seven accessible parking bays along with six electric vehicle bays and cycle parking.

The new store is expected to create up to 40 new jobs and the proposed opening hours would be from 7am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays.

Rosie Meehan, regional head of property for Lidl Great Britain, called on Tewkesbury Borough Council’s planning committee to app…

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Last year, the area saw an increase of more than 20 per cent in the total number of homes the Government wants to see built over the next two decades with around 43,000 new homes needed across the three districts.

Sites for approximately 20,000 have been found so far but there is a shortfall of around 23,000 homes which needs to be addressed by the strategic and local plan.

The vast majority of these new homes will be built in the borough of Tewkesbury as Cheltenham and Gloucester do not have enough land – and councils have a legal duty to co-operate with neighbouring areas.

Tewkesbury Borough Council leader Richard Stanley (LD, Cleeve West) says the SLP will allow councils to plan where thi…

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Opening the outdoor swimming pool for this summer in its current state is deemed to be too dangerous for its users.

However, Stroud District Councillor agreed last night (April 16) a way forward which could see the site open in time for the school summer holidays.

Three major hazards were found during a risk assessment conducted at the site in February this year.

These include several cracks in the concrete on the poolside directly beneath and next to the diving board. And the survey found excessive corrosion in the pipework and the pool tank.

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Wildwood’s managing director Richard Dodd described the move as positive for the business which is based at Brimscombe Mill Business Park and employs more than 20 staff.

Dodd aid: “Joining the Ecology Group is a great opportunity to continue that growth, exploring new areas and enabling us to deliver outstanding client-focused services to more people.”

Wildwood Ecology certified as a B Corporation in 2019 and also picked up our first Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) award as Small Consultancy of the Year.

It has since been awarded the title in 2021, 2023 and 2025.

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And council chiefs say their main priority with the airport now is to maintain its operational continuity and support the many aviation-related businesses based at the airfield.

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It was confirmed last week that plans to sell the 375-acre site in Staverton, which is jointly owned by Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucester City Council, had fallen through.

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Webinar - The workforce of the future (25 Feb 12.30-1.30pm)

1. Film showing - Common Good in Stroud (4 March 7pm)

2. Webinar: latest updates on new B Corp standards (11 March 1-2pm)

3. Webinar: motivating behaviour change for sustainability action (25 March 12.30-1.30pm)

4. B Local resources

• Webinar - The workforce of the future (25 Feb 12.30-1.30pm)

Gloucestershire B Local is hosting a best practice webinar on what the workforce of the future might…

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The proposals, which have now been submitted to Gloucester City Council, would provide a mix of one and two bedroom apartments specifically for rent.

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The multi-million contract, signed on January 15, will see the creation of specialist modern facilities for 13 Signal Regiment at South Cerney with 248 single living accommodation rooms as well as 30 homes for service personnel with families.

It’s claimed the development will also boost the local economy, creating 92 jobs, demonstrating defence as an engine for growth, according to Defence Minister Luke Pollard.

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