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English Cities Fund doubles to £200m

7 Mar 18 The English Cities Fund, a partnership between Homes England, Legal & General and Muse Developments, has decided to double its investment to £200m.

English Cities Fund helped this Canning Town development
English Cities Fund helped this Canning Town development

The fund’s initial investment of £100m is on track to deliver five schemes in England with a total value of £1.6bn.

The fund will now double in size to £200m to target complex long-term regeneration projects. It will seek new partnerships with local authorities to deliver residential-led, mixed-use schemes.

The fund was set up in 2001 to take on challenging development sites and encourage private and institutional investment in cities. Since then it has helped regeneration projects in Liverpool, London, Plymouth, Salford and Wakefield. It has delivered 850,000 sq ft of office, retail and leisure space and built 1,300 homes in new neighbourhoods, with a further 2,210 homes still in the pipeline, alongside 820,000 sq ft of new commercial development.

Chairman Sir Michael Lyons, a former chair of the BBC Trust, said: “We’re a unique partnership.  In bringing together Homes England, Legal & General and Muse, we are demonstrating the combined potential of public and private sector regeneration expertise.  We’ve shown over 17 years that it’s possible to commit for the long-term while still delivering at pace.  It’s an approach that’s allowed us to see potential where others may not and to transform even the most complex sites.

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“As we double the fund, we’re enthusiastic about the opportunities to deliver urban developments which show real imagination and unlock value for our partners and their communities.”

The expanded fund will focus principally on projects which have a gross development value of over £100m.

The fund typically partners with councils and other public sector organisations who are landholders, promoters or stakeholders in key regeneration areas.  As well as working with five local authorities, the fund has delivered schemes in partnership with Network Rail, the East Coast Mainline, the Greater London Authority and Homes England.

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