The company behind the controversial Epsom station redevelopment has said the new station will provide huge benefits as a "modern gateway" to the historic town.

During a tour of the site for the Epsom Guardian last week, Peter Hughes and Wyn Evans, of developers Solum Regeneration, said residents who have been unimpressed by the development so far will change their minds once the building work is completed in February next year.  

Solum was formed in 2008 as a joint venture between Network Rail and Kier Property, with the aim of delivering station improvements to Epsom funded privately through housing and retail. 

Epsom is one of the busiest stations in Surrey and was identified for improvement by Network Rail as passenger numbers are expected to increase significantly in the next 25 years. 

Peter Hughes, associate director at Solum Regeneration, said: "Passengers using the station will see the benefit.  Southern, the train operator, will see the benefit - they didn't want to operate from an old, redundant station that was difficult to manage. 

"There's a new high-quality building and a bigger space which is more functional. 

"Once the disruption from the construction process is out of the way, people will start to see all that.

"If you look at its size and structure, it’s in keeping with the surrounding building and takes its influence from the modern aspects of Epsom.  We’ve built what we achieved planning permission for.

"A station is the gateway to Epsom - you want to make it a landmark type building for the future. 

"A modern building which is a modern entrance into Epsom."

The development has provided a new ticket hall, additional waiting shelters, new toilets and better access to platforms, as well as 200 secure cycle spaces, 64 car parking spaces, and eight taxi spaces. 

Tesco Express and Costa Coffee will be open within weeks and another "good brand" retailer is in talks to buy the remaining retail units next to the new Travelodge.

63 of the one to three bed flats have been bought by private housing provider Fizzy Living and these will be targeted at young professionals.

Thanks to a £2.1m Government grant a further 33 high quality affordable flats will be available at an affordable rent and 21 will be shared ownership and these will be managed by Orbit housing association.

When asked about the controversial ‘faces’ on the building’s facade, Mr Hughes said council members were consulted on the shortlist of designs produced through a competition of UCA students to find artwork for the station and he was "surprised" to hear two of the councillors consulted now found the faces "hideous".

He said: "It’s a planning requirement within all of our schemes to have public art. 

"We presented the concept to the council and both officers and members were part of the process."

Mr Evans said: "Artwork is subjective.  It looks subtle - some of the computer-generated photos didn’t show the subtleties."

He said the construction process has been handled very carefully to minimise disruption to travellers.

He said: "We’ve had to keep the station open at all times - it’s not like a normal building site where you can fence it off. 

"But, the station hasn’t been impacted, people have got to the platforms and we’ve done everything we possibly can to keep disruption to a minimum."