Richard Carr back in the game after BCP Council declines Barclays House purchase

Love it or hate it the enormous Barclays House building on Wimborne Rd is a Poole landmark, having dominated the town’s skyline for 50 years, but it has an uncertain future.

BCP Council has decided not to buy the town-centre building, despite being given an exclusivity period by Barclays and following a lengthy period of due diligence estimated to have cost £195,000. The research found that the amount of work required to bring the building up to standard would be too much.

Council leader Drew Mellor made a statement, explaining that the council would not continue with the exclusivity agreement or put in a formal bid for the site. He said: “We agreed an exclusivity period with Barclays to complete detailed due diligence to fully understand the investment needed to bring the building back into use.

“This valuable work has now concluded, and we have found that both the building and car park require a level of refurbishment and/or rebuilding which would not fit in with our intended plans – especially with reference to the car park.

“We will therefore not be extending the exclusivity period or submitting a formal bid for the site, which will allow other interested parties to continue dialogue with the owners about their bids or plans.”

Richard Carr, local property developer and Chief Executive of Fortitudo, had put in a bid of £6.5 million for the estate, considerably less than the ‘indicative’ £12 million the council had proposed. He will renew his offer for the Barclays estate, including the 1,100-space car park, which he planned to demolish having had prior approval granted in May.

Carr said, “We will be pursuing the opportunity again. It was a shame that we have wasted all this time, but at the end of the day it is what it is and we have to crack on.”

His plan was to build three towers of “iconic apartments” with “the most fantastic views” and there was talk of a sky restaurant on the top floor. “It would really be something for people to drive past and say, ‘wow look at that’,” said Carr, who referred to the existing building as “a bit of a blight on the landscape.”

Planning officials said that an ecological survey, including bats and falcons, would need to be carried out at the site before any work could start.

Despite the amount of money spent, Cllr Mellor said that the possibility of a purchase was “one we had to explore” and he insisted that the council would support whoever buys the site.

“We remain committed to the regeneration of Poole and will continue to support wider regeneration in the area, working closely with whoever takes on the task of revitalising this critical piece of the jigsaw of Poole’s future,” he explained.

Barclays said they are in talks with a number of interested parties.

The bank originally started the four-year building work on its headquarters in 1972 after decentralising from London. Barclays left the nine-storey building in 2022, after 46 years in the town, relocating most of its 700 Poole staff to offices in Lansdowne, Bournemouth.