Tuesday, June 10, 2008

John Laing Projects & Developments, a division of John Laing plc, has been selected by Croydon Council as its preferred private sector partner for the £450m regeneration of part of Croydon town centre, including the delivery of a new flagship headquarters for the Council.

The partnership, which should be signed in October, will be a 50:50 limited liability partnership.  This is a new model of public private partnership, utilising an “urban regeneration” asset backed vehicle into which Croydon Council will invest land and John Laing equity. 

The Council will enjoy the following benefits

• The regeneration of four important town centre sites with the creation of two 40 storey towers with 659 residential units, a combination of both private and affordable.  In total the four sites will create around 1314 new residential units.  John Laing will be working in partnership with residential development group Gladedale, one of the country’s largest privately owned housebuilders. 
• Delivery of a brand new state of the art office building for its own use.  It is anticipated that the Council’s land value and share of development profit will be sufficient to pay for the building and its running costs for many years
• A 50/50 share in profits from the partnership  
• Through the partnership the Council will maintain ongoing control of its regeneration agenda by retaining an interest as a partner-landowner as well as through utilising its planning powers.  It will get the new buildings it wants which will be designed by EPR Architects
• The Council has a long-term regeneration pipeline and therefore has the option to add additional sites into the partnership as and when further development is required over the next 25 years.  

“Jamie Kerr, Managing Director of John Laing Projects & Developments, said:  “This is the start of a new way of the public and private sectors working together to regenerate local communities.  Many other local authorities and public sector agencies are looking to increase the returns from their assets which can be utilised to pay for new infrastructure and facilities and they will be studying today’s news with great interest. 

“Croydon Council has led the way and we are delighted to be their preferred partner and look forward to working together to make a significant difference for the people of Croydon.  Our approach will build on our world class partnering skills, developed over many years of working with the public sector.”

Councillor Tim Pollard, Deputy Leader, said: “It won’t have escaped anyone’s notice that some of the most successful companies in the UK are property developers.  The council has for some time sold sites to the highest bidder only for developers to take all the profit when land is developed.  The solution we expect to engineer with John Laing will ensure we get a big slice of the future action and make a lasting contribution to Croydon’s regeneration.  By taking on a commercial investor as a partner in a regeneration vehicle, the council will be able to maximise the value of its assets and drive the way in which the next phase of borough-wide regeneration unfolds.

“As a valuable spin-off it also means we solve the council’s own accommodation problem.  Although there’s still a lot of detailed work to be done before formally agreeing a partnership deal with John Laing we’re confident this can be achieved by early autumn. ”

Denton Wilde Sapte acted as legal advisors to John Laing.
Knight Frank acted as property advisors to John Laing.
Eversheds acted as property advisors to Croydon Council.

This award follows and builds upon other recent important PPP wins including the project to develop the town centres for Tunbridge Wells, and the £75m redevelopment of Hasting College, both of which are in partnership with Gladedale.

ENDS

For further information and artist’s impressions please contact:
Vicky Ferries/ Charles Reynolds, Madano Partnership
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7593 4000

Christine Jones at John Laing plc
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7901 3290

Press and Public Relations office at Croydon Council
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8760 5644

Notes to Editors:
This award followed a competitive dialogue bidding process which initially attracted interest from over 80 parties and led to 19 serious expressions of interest

The council expects to place four assets in the first tranche of development opportunities, including Croydon Council’s offices and Taberner House, the council’s 40-year-old skyscraper headquarters.  Most of the buildings involved have a limited life in their present form and are presenting increasing maintenance liabilities.  All would benefit from regeneration or redevelopment.  

About John Laing
John Laing plc is a specialist provider of facilities through public private partnerships with a long-term perspective and approach. The company manages and delivers 61 projects from planning and funding through to design, construction and operation. It is actively involved in the management of a wide range of health, education, police, rail, roads and special purpose government facilities, both in the UK and internationally.  http://www.laing.com/

About Gladedale
Gladedale, headquartered in Epsom, is one of the UK’s leading residential and mixed-use developers.  Last year, it completed 3,854 units and increased turnover by 37% to £664 million. In 2007, Gladedale completed the acquisition of the publicly quoted Yorkshire-based housebuilder Ben Bailey in deal valued at approximately £84m million.

About EPR Architects Limited
EPR Architects Limited provides a comprehensive architectural design service encompassing urban design, masterplanning, planning supervision and architecture for major office, retail, sport, leisure, residential, hotel, industrial and other commercial projects.  Over the past 50 years, EPR has completed many outstanding and distinctive, award winning buildings across the UK and Europe. EPR is best known for its modern approach to building design, incorporating sustainable and environmental practices. Testament to this is its long standing client list. www.epr.co.uk