News

Council leader urges CapCo to return Earls Court estates

News

Louise Dransfield

30 July 2018

Residential

England, London

Detail of CapCo's original Earls Court masterplan

Cowan said he had also written to CapCo’s board, urging them to stand by chief executive Ian Hawksworth’s 2 March statement to the council.

Hawksworth informed the council in March that CapCo’s board had agreed it was in the best interests of both CapCo and the council for the firm to return the West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates, Gibbs Green School and Farm Lane to the council, Cowan said in his letter.

CapCo and Hammersmith & Fulham Council agreed a conditional land sale in 2013 to include the council’s land holdings of around 22 acres in CapCo’s Earls Court masterplan, in return for a cash consideration of £105m plus the re-provision of 760 homes for the estate’s residents.

The FTSE 250 company reported in its half-year results last week that it had paid the council £75m to date, and added that basement works had already been carried out on a block at Lillie Square, near the main Earls Court scheme, which would be the first phase of replacement housing for the estate’s residents.

Cowan said he had offered to return the money CapCo had already paid to the council in return for cancelling the agreement and that this money was available with 10 days’ notice.

Since the second half of 2015, the value of the 77-acre Earls Court site – prior to the sale of the Empress State Building in February, for £250m, to its long-term tenant, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime – has fallen by half, going from a peak of £1.4bn to £707m as of the end of June 2018.

CapCo, meanwhile, has begun exploring the possibility of demerging the company into two separate businesses – one holding the Covent Garden portfolio and the other its Earls Court development scheme – as looks to turn around its ailing fortunes.

A CapCo company spokesperson said: “The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has expressed interest in pursuing alternative options for the estates. CapCo continues to engage with LBHF and other stakeholders in relation to future plans for the estates. In the meantime, the Conditional Land Sale Agreement, a binding agreement entered into with LBHF in relation to the estates in 2013, remains in place.”

Click on the image to download the letter

To send feedback, e-mail Louise.Dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette

A version of this article appeared in the 4 August print edition of EG with the headline “CapCo urged to return its Earls Court estates”

Hammersmith & Fulham Council leader Stephen Cowan has written to residents of the two estates involved in CapCo’s Earls Court development, following the company’s latest set of financial results last week. Cowan said he had also written to CapCo’s board, urging them to stand by chief executive Ian Hawksworth’s 2 March statement to the council. Hawksworth informed the council in March that CapCo’s board had agreed it was in the best interests of both CapCo and the council for the firm to return the West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates, Gibbs Green School and Farm Lane to the council, Cowan said in his letter. CapCo and Hammersmith & Fulham Council agreed a conditional land sale in 2013 to include the council’s land holdings of around 22 acres in CapCo’s Earls Court masterplan, in return for a cash consideration of £105m plus the re-provision of 760 homes for the estate’s residents. The FTSE 250 company reported in its half-year results last week that it had paid the council £75m to date, and added that basement works had already been carried out on a block at Lillie Square, near the main Earls Court scheme, which would be the first phase of replacement housing for the estate’s residents. Cowan said he had offered to return the money CapCo had already paid to the council in return for cancelling the agreement and that this money was available with 10 days’ notice. Since the second half of 2015, the value of the 77-acre Earls Court site – prior to the sale of the Empress State Building in February, for £250m, to its long-term tenant, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime – has fallen by half, going from a peak of £1.4bn to £707m as of the end of June 2018. CapCo, meanwhile, has begun exploring the possibility of demerging the company into two separate businesses – one holding the Covent Garden portfolio and the other its Earls Court development scheme – as looks to turn around its ailing fortunes. A CapCo company spokesperson said: “The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has expressed interest in pursuing alternative options for the estates. CapCo continues to engage with LBHF and other stakeholders in relation to future plans for the estates. In the meantime, the Conditional Land Sale Agreement, a binding agreement entered into with LBHF in relation to the estates in 2013, remains in place.” [caption id="attachment_937256" align="alignright" width="200"] Click on the image to download the letter[/caption] To send feedback, e-mail Louise.Dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette A version of this article appeared in the 4 August print edition of EG with the headline “CapCo urged to return its Earls Court estates”