Bracknell Forest Council is looking for a joint venture partner for its latest regeneration project in the post-war new town.
The council is looking to bring forward three sites – Market Street, Jubilee Gardens and Coopers Hills – over six acres of land, with capacity for around 700 residential units.
The Berkshire scheme has a gross development value of around £300m. This figure also allows for additional sites, which could become part of the joint venture project at a later stage.
It marks the first time the council has approached a 50:50 deal of this kind, which will also involve loans from the Loan Works Development Board. It is likely the council will not borrow more than £10m at any one time.
While the first three sites are expected to be residential-led, the council is open to other uses such as office schemes, hotels or community facilities on any new land it brings forward.
Timothy Wheadon, chief executive at Bracknell Forest Council, said: “We’ve already delivered two phases of comprehensive regeneration with development partners, and now we’re looking for a new partner to continue to expand Bracknell’s regeneration success story.
“We are looking for a partner that has the financial capabilities, technical resource and experience to support the council and proactively facilitate the delivery of the exciting next phase.”
The council has appointed Avison Young to find an investment and development partner.
Charles Trustram Eve, director at Avison Young, said: “The joint venture will have the potential to operate beyond the town centre on a variety of projects throughout the borough. The opportunity is therefore broad, and the right partner will need a breadth of experience to match.”
While it has yet to enter a joint venture deal with a developer, Bracknell has worked closely with developers before. Most notably, it has worked for several years with the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership, comprising Schroder UK Real Estate Fund and Legal & General Capital, on the delivery of The Lexicon, a retail and leisure development with a GDV of £270m.
Bracknell is the first post-war new town to be comprehensively masterplanned, demolished and redeveloped. The Lexicon is one of the largest urban regeneration schemes created in the UK over the past decade.
Office occupiers in Bracknell include Panasonic, Fujitsu, Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprises.
The deadline for applications is 27 June 2019. The council will draw up a shortlist in July, and announce the winner in spring 2020.
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