Rugby Borough Council says the Cemex House block on Evreux Way comes down in September, clearing the way for a £5m, 1,300 sq m Aldi and 40 permanent jobs.
The demolition of Cemex House is due to begin this month. Rugby Borough Council said so in a progress report published on 1 September, and repeated it in the papers for next Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.
The block sits on Evreux Way, directly opposite the Town Hall. It is one of the first things drivers see coming into the town centre from the north. It has stood empty for years.
The council’s town centre regeneration update, item 7 on the cabinet agenda for 8 September, puts it in a single line at paragraph 3.40:
Cemex House, Evreux Way had a planning application (R22/1102) for the demolition of the building and the construction of an Aldi foodstore approved in March 2026. Demolition is due to begin on the site in September.
What replaces it
The council’s own ten-year town centre delivery plan, adopted on 3 August, describes what was permitted on the site:
- a £5 million Aldi supermarket
- 1,300 sq m of floorspace
- 40 permanent jobs
- improved pedestrian access into the town centre
When permission was granted, the council added that around 100 jobs would be supported during construction. The approved scheme also includes a new crossing and a pedestrian link through to Rugby Central shopping centre.
Why the site has taken so long
The council’s reference for the application is R22/1102. Permission was not granted until March 2026.
Cllr Michael Moran, who was leader of the council at the time, was blunt about the delay in the announcement: “Aldi acquired Cemex House many years before my time as Leader, and it has been a challenging site to bring forward.”
In the same statement he called Cemex House “one of the first major buildings people see as they come into Rugby town centre”, and said it “has been in a derelict site for far too long”.
The council has had a new leader since. Cllr Louise Robinson now holds the post, and her line on the wider programme this week was that “regeneration’s very much a marathon rather than a sprint”.
What the council has not said
Three things are missing from the published record, and they are the ones people living and working nearby will want.
- No start date. The report says September. It does not name a day.
- No published road closure. Warwickshire County Council’s traffic notices for Rugby borough listed three schemes on 2 September, at Manor Drive in Stretton on Dunsmore, Kennedy Drive in Bilton and Vicarage Hill in Clifton upon Dunsmore. None of them is Evreux Way.
- No demolition programme. Nothing has been published on how long the work runs or how the site will be screened, beyond a note in the same report that branded hoardings for the former Cemex House site are “in progress”.
What it means for you
If you drive, walk or park around the north end of the town centre, expect the picture to change without much notice. Evreux Way is the road the Town Hall sits on, and it meets Park Road and North Street at what the council’s delivery plan calls the North Gateway, the junction by the southern entrance to Caldecott Park.
A demolition of this size normally brings hoardings, lorry movements and possible footway diversions. None of that has been notified yet. The place to check before you travel is Warwickshire’s roadworks map, and we keep a running summary on our Rugby roadworks and travel page.
If you park nearby, the council’s town centre parking review is still running. Its outcomes are due back at cabinet in the winter, so nothing changes on tariffs in the meantime. Current charges are on our parking in Rugby page.
Cabinet meets at 6pm on Tuesday 8 September in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall. The regeneration report is for noting rather than decision, so there is no vote on the demolition itself. The meeting is livestreamed on the council’s website.
We track new applications and decisions on our Rugby planning news page.
Have your say