The Homes and Communities Agency is to be handed control of the £1.7bn of assets owned by
The remit reflects a turnaround in fortunes for the HCA, which until last month was at risk of being thrown on the bonfire of the quangos along with the RDAs.
Click here to view the assets held by RDAs
Insiders said that the body, formed in 2008 by the merger of English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation, would now carry out the disposal of around 380 RDA properties on behalf of the departments for Communities and Local Government and Business, Innovation and Skills.
One senior source at the Government Property Unit, which is part of BIS, told Estates Gazette: “Part of winding up the RDAs was to find new legal owners for all the assets, and managing all the financial responsibilities that come with them in the meantime. I think that was probably just too big an ask for CLG and BIS to sort out in the allotted time frame, so it was figured, why not get help from somewhere else?”
Tony Reeves, chief executive of
These include the former Bradford Odeon cinema, where plans are in place to transform the 1.25-acre site into a £55m mixed-use development comprising 90,000 sq ft of offices, 36 flats and a 98-bedroom hotel.
Reeves said: “My understanding is that the HCA will hold RDA assets for the government and there will be potential to jointly take projects forward.
“The thought of the assets being sold off in a fire-sale and us having to bid to acquire them was not a good one.”
Gerry Hughes, executive director at GVA Grimley, said: “This is a positive because the HCA, in its former guise as English Partnerhips, had a similar role dealing with public sector land assets and liabilities.”
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
To access all EGi news stories and commercial property data sign up for a free trial today, or visit the subscription options page to find out more.
