Local authorities have restarted billions of pounds of regeneration schemes, anticipating renewed interest from the private sector after pausing projects in lockdown.
The London Legacy Development Corporation will next month restart its hunt for a jv partner for a £600m development at the Olympic Park, E20 after pulling the brakes in April.
The LLDC is looking for a development partner for around 1,250 homes across the two sites at Stratford Waterfront near East Bank (pictured) and Bridgewater with an OJEU procurement to launch 14 October, a year after it initially set out the jv plans.
It postponed the launch following soft market testing, as national developers focused attention on cashflow and cost-cutting, with many pausing new projects. During this time, the LLDC has launched consultation on the plans for Bridgewater, with an outline planning application expected this year.
“East Bank is coming out of the ground, the construction is well underway and we felt it was a good opportunity to build on that momentum and get this out to the market,” said Rosanna Lawes, executive director of development at the LLDC.
The LLDC is now driving forward development and working with Avison Young to appoint a jv partner next year. It aims to submit plans for a second 900-home opportunity at Pudding Mill Lane, E15 with for sale and build-to-rent by June, which will then come to the market as a £750m investment opportunity shortly after.
“We’d like to get going quite quickly,” said Lawes. “As a development corporation we are here to deliver, whether we are in a Covid-19 world or recession, our role is to work with the market to get these homes built.”
Birmingham City Council is also restarting its dialogue with bidders for the city’s largest ever regeneration at the 6,000-home Ladywood scheme.
The Ladywood Estate is a predominantly 1960s residential neighbourhood spanning 153 acres in Birmingham’s city centre. The council launched the procurement a year ago, appointing Avison Young to secure a development partner.
Much like Stratford the search for a partner was paused in March, but was restarted just last week, with a partner selection expected in the second half of next year.
“There’s a renewed vigour from councils to get these type of projects up and running,” said Mark Birks, head of regional land and development at Avison Young. “We are live and up and running and doing things in a slightly different manner. The principles are all the same, but we are doing it all virtually.”
Informal dialogue has continued over the summer and the downtime has also allowed the council and the bidders to review its focus in a period of uncertainty. “It has created an opportunity for the council to have a better steer to make sure that when we do restart the dialogue we are further forward,” said Birks.
In Edinburgh, the council has set a fresh deadline for bids for its £170m Fountainbridge redevelopment of 16 October, with an optional negotiation stage expected to end 13 November.
CEC initially launched its search for a development partner on the mixed-use scheme in 2019. In March, prior to lockdown, the council selected a shortlist of six developers out of 10 applications. However, due to the pressures in response to coronavirus, it was forced to set an open-ended completion for tenders.
The new submission date would see a preferred bidder selected early next year, 10 years after the council acquired the site from Lloyds via its former arms-length development company.
“The property market is often first to suffer and the last to recover, but in this case it might be that there is still some pent-up demand,” said David Cooper, commercial development manager at the City of Edinburgh Council.
“With Fountainbridge, there’s still demand and interest and there’s a very good chance that by the time we are building and looking to market space that we will hopefully be beyond Covid-19.”
The masterplan proposes 435 homes including social rent, intermediate rent, build-to-rent and for-sale flats, alongside 107,640 sq ft of office and 32,290 sq ft of commercial ground floor space.
“The proposals that we have on the table are fairly resilient, there is a lot of housing, but also amenities and some office space,” he said, adding optimistically: “Property is still strong, and people are still building.”
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