UK Construction and Law
Planning application submitted for the £150m North Quay waterfront scheme at Great Yarmouth
By Staff Writer | 15 August 2026
Willmott Dixon Developments and Rioja Estates have lodged plans for an outlet village, a leisure quarter, a 120-bedroom hotel, up to 60 homes and a 915-space car park on the Great Yarmouth waterfront. A decision is expected in early 2027, with construction planned to start in 2028.
A planning application has been submitted for the regeneration of North Quay at Great Yarmouth, a scheme with a gross development value of £150m. The applicants are Willmott Dixon Developments and Rioja Estates, working with Great Yarmouth Borough Council, which assembled the land and secured £20m from the government's Levelling Up Fund. The development itself is privately funded.
What is in the application
At the centre of the proposal is an open air outlet village with around 70 premium and high street brands, with a dedicated food quarter. A separate leisure quarter would provide a cinema, family entertainment, competitive socialising, coworking space and food and drink outlets. The plans also include a 120-bedroom hotel overlooking The Conge, up to 60 new homes, and a multi-storey car park with up to 915 spaces alongside electric vehicle charging points.
Flood resilience measures, sustainable drainage, green roofs and biodiversity improvements are part of the submission. The Grade II listed buildings at 80 to 82 North Quay would be retained and reused.
The submission of this planning application is the culmination of extensive collaboration with Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Rioja Estates, local stakeholders and the community to develop a vision for North Quay that reflects the town's ambitions for the future.
Matthew Knight, national head of development (investment), Willmott Dixon Developments
The numbers the applicants are putting forward
The applicants say the development would create nearly 800 construction jobs a year and generate £14m in gross added value during construction, and that the completed site is expected to support around 1,270 jobs. Those are the promoters' own figures, presented in support of an application, and they should be read as such until the planning authority has tested them.
Evidence from outlets at Ashford, Gloucester and Portsmouth demonstrate that they act as catalysts for investment, employment and renewed confidence.
Giles Membrey, managing director, Rioja Estates
The programme, and why it matters to anyone pricing it
Subject to approval in early 2027, enabling works and detailed design would follow, ahead of a planned construction start in 2028 and opening in 2030. That is roughly eighteen months from submission to a decision, and another year from decision to work starting.
A gap of that length between application and site start is where inflation risk, specification drift and supply chain turnover live. Anyone offering a rate now is offering it against a scope that has not yet been consented.
Two features of this scheme are worth watching for the trades that will eventually price it. The first is that it is a mixed use consent covering retail, leisure, hotel, residential and a multi-storey car park on one waterfront site, so the phasing and the interfaces between those elements will decide how much of it can sensibly be let as separate packages. The second is the listed element at 80 to 82 North Quay, where retention and reuse tends to sit on the programme's critical path long after the new build has settled down.
The flood resilience commitments are the other item to read carefully when the documents are published. On a quayside site they drive levels, drainage design and ground works, and they are usually settled through conditions rather than in the headline consent.
Nothing is consented yet. The application is with the borough council, and until it is determined the scheme is a proposal with a programme attached to it.