Wonder Woman filming site to become housing

A Grade II* listed building which was used as a filming location for Wonder Woman 1984 is to be transformed into a £200m housing and leisure development.

Plans have been approved to convert Legal and General House in Kingswood into 299 homes, including 122 later-living units, alongside leisure facilities, office space and two swimming pools.

The project will refurbish the building, which was previously the headquarters of L&G, and redevelop its 19-hectare green belt site.

Developers have said the scheme was needed to secure the building's long-term future.

They have also told councillors the cost of restoring the listed building meant affordable housing could not be provided on site without making the scheme financially unviable.

The proposal, by City and Country Residential, follows a previously approved scheme granted in 2019.

The development will include up to 177 private homes and reduce the site's car parking capacity from about 1,500 spaces to 709.

A leisure complex featuring sports courts and a pavilion will also be built, with councillors speculating it could be operated by David Lloyd.

A Reigate and Banstead Borough Council planning meeting on 9 September heard the development was needed to fund the repairs of the building and ensure its future occupancy.

Councillor Sam Walsh said: "I wouldn't have listed it, if anything, I'd have demolished it. It's an absolutely awful building."

However, he said the plans had "turned around a pretty revolting design of the excesses of the 80s and 90s to quite a sophisticated residential development".

Councillor Michael Blacker said: "I think we've got to welcome the development and the housing."

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