All 15 shops at Victoria Square are let, The Marches is full and Hilton's cladding work finished in October, the council's own company says in a new report.

Every shop unit at Victoria Square is now let, and the cladding work at the Hilton is finished. The council-owned company that runs the development reports both in a progress update published for councillors (Victoria Square Woking Ltd, strategic progress report).

The report goes to the council’s Shareholder Executive Committee at 7pm on Wednesday 11 November. It is the company’s own account of its year.

The numbers

Measure Latest figure
Retail units let 15 of 15
The Marches homes, contracted occupancy 100%
Resident satisfaction 4.7 out of 5
Hilton occupancy 88%
Hilton guest experience score 9 out of 10
Woking town centre visitors, year on year up 1.6%
Surrey visitors, same measure up 0.7%
UK visitors, same measure down 0.2%
Red and Green car park visitors up 8.27%

The car park figure needs a caveat, which the report itself gives. Victoria Way Car Park closed in March 2025, so some of those drivers had to park elsewhere.

The report names Bannings Dental and SuperSong Foods as additions to the town centre, and says a vacant unit went to a new specialist food store. A medical centre unit is under offer.

Cladding, and the rest of the clean-up

The report sets out progress on building safety:

  • Hilton: cladding remediation finished in early October 2026, with formal sign-off and the warranty still progressing.
  • The Marches: it gained its building safety certificate in early 2026.
  • Sir Robert McAlpine: an agreement in December 2025 marked what the report calls an important step towards resolving the cladding issues.

The company also reports several financial wins:

  • £500,000 a year off the insurance premium
  • £1.5 million recovered through insurance rent reviews
  • a VAT liability to HMRC cut from £3.7 million to £1.3 million
  • a liability under its “earn-your-deposit” scheme cut from £6 million to £250,000

ThamesWey: bids are in for 1,337 homes

The same meeting receives the ThamesWey Group’s report, which shows how far the sale of the council’s housing company has gone (ThamesWey Group, strategic progress narrative).

ThamesWey Housing Limited (THL) holds 1,337 homes. Savills has held more than 50 buyer meetings, and first-round bids for the core portfolio had arrived by September. The company was choosing a shortlist for a second stage, with portfolio tours booked for early October.

Other sales have already gone through. Griffin House and Concorde House were sold in June, and so was Thameswey Central Milton Keynes, which went to Leep.

A decision published on 29 October also moves some property out of THL to prepare it for sale. A new council-owned company will temporarily hold leases on (decision record):

  • 47 flats above Middle Walk, which are due to go in the wider Wolsey Walk sale
  • a cluster of properties on Woking High Street
  • one tenanted home on Bagshot Road, Knaphill
  • one tenanted home on Connaught Road, Knaphill

The report gives THL’s customer satisfaction as 88% in March, against a target of 80%, and 86% in a June survey. Fire surveys are continuing at several blocks. Remedial costs at Harrington Place were still being assessed in September.

What it means for you

  • If you shop in town: the shops at Victoria Square are all taken, and the report shows visitor numbers rising while the UK’s fell slightly.
  • If you rent from ThamesWey: the report says service continuity is being maintained during the sale. It does not name bidders or say what a new owner would change.
  • To follow it: the committee papers are online, and the meeting has a webcast link.