La Grande Mare rebuild could start in the spring

Owner Steve Lansdown said a revised application to turn the site into a destination based around golf, to be enjoyed by the local community and visitors, is set to be submitted to planners shortly.

If approved, building work could begin in the second quarter of 2021 and be completed around 2023. Work would be done around the existing golf course, so members of La Grande Mare club can continue playing. The course is also set to be developed in stages, with approximately six holes each year with the work due to finish in 2024.

The objective is to create a quality destination, including a first-class restaurant with views over the west coast, top golf and health facilities, to be enjoyed by the local community and visitors.

Underlining his ‘vote of confidence’ in Guernsey, Mr Lansdown said a ‘reasonable amount’ from the recent sale of £100m. of shares in the business he founded – Hargreaves Lansdown – would go on the project.

‘We are very close to getting in the submission in for planning. What people have seen before was a pre-app[lication]. We did a lot of work to get to the pre-application stage so you can get the planners’ input,’ he said.

‘Since that time we’ve been very busy on all the environmental assessments of the area. Fine tuning the plans, looking at the costs and the potential return on investment. All the various aspects you go into – engineering reports, drainage, you name it we’ve done it. That’s all been pulled together now.’

Welcoming working with planners, he continued: ‘We’ve done a lot of work with them keeping them informed and we’ll sit down with them and go through it.

‘It’s a big project. It’s like five projects really when you look at it and hopefully we can guide them through it and we get permission end of quarter one and then we’ll be out for tenders getting the detailed plans for the tendering and start work in the summer.’

Mr Lansdown also said he was committed to using as many local contractors as possible on the project, but stressed they would need to be competitive.

‘I’ve been here 10-and-a-half years. I love the island, I love being here.

I’ve already invested in the island in different ways. But for me this is a significant investment, which I can put something back for the local community to enjoy. It is a vote of confidence in the island, my belief in the island.’

He also said the project was, in some ways, trying to show the way that Guernsey had to go in terms of tourism – giving people a reason to come here above and beyond its natural beauty.

The new La Grande Mare development would do just that, said Mr Lansdown, by giving people another reason to come here and spend money in Guernsey. That could include friends coming to play golf, good quality tournaments and executive events.

The proposed building’s ‘great room’ could also be opened up for coffee, meetings, promotions and events. One potential idea being to hold an international arts expo such as those seen in places such as Monaco or Venice.