AUTUMN STATEMENT: The sale of Victorian prisons in inner cities, expected to be announced in this afternoon’s Spending Review, could create more than £3bn of housing development opportunities in London alone.
Wandsworth, Brixton, Pentonville and Wormwood Scrubs are all likely to be put on the market, with prisoners relocated to nine new fit-for-purpose prisons built outside London.
High-security jails might not sound like everyone’s ideal home, but demand is expected to be high for the government-owned sites, which industry sources said could together offer space for more than 5,000 homes.
Local authorities would lose out on more than £1m in business rates currently paid by prisons in London, according to Jerry Schurder, head of business rates at Gerald Eve. But the contribution of much-needed housing stock and the well-documented need to improve prison facilities are behind justice secretary Michael Gove’s reforms.
“The disposal of these prison sites presents a great but challenging, in some cases, regeneration opportunity that in each area will contribute significantly to housing delivery to London,” said Robert Fourt, partner in Gerald Eve’s planning and development and structured finance teams.
Click on the interactive map below to see GDV of individual sites and potential number of units.
