The acquired business consists of a group of companies that have various interests in four development opportunities in North and East London. The developments are all at various stages in the planning process but they have the combined potential to add £500m to Telford Homes’ existing £1bn development pipeline.
These development opportunities are: City North next to Finsbury Park station; the refurbishment of the Balfron Tower in Poplar; two phases of development at Gallions Quarter near Royal Albert Dock; and the regeneration of Chrisp Street Market in Poplar. They are all in line with the core strategy of Telford Homes, which specialises in residential developments in London.
City North is a £200m mixed use development comprising 355 apartments and 109,000 square feet of retail, leisure and office space in a joint venture with the Business Design Centre in Islington. The scheme includes two 23-storey towers linked by a 12 storey terrace building. The site has full planning permission and incorporates plans to improve the facilities at the adjacent Finsbury Park station. Telford Homes said it was aiming to get construction started before the end of 2015, with completion in 2020.
Balfron Tower is a 26-storey Grade II listed building in Poplar. The £100m refurbishment project is in joint venture with Londonewcastle and building owner Poplar HARCA. The development is subject to planning permission but the aim is to start the refurbishment in early 2016 and be completed by 2018. Telford Homes now owns a 25% interest in the scheme which is expected to add over £15m of revenue to the development pipeline.
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Gallions Quarter is a multi-phase development by Gallions Reach Docklands Light Railway (DLR ) station. The development is controlled by Notting Hill Housing Group and Telford Homes is acquiring a 50% interest in two of the phases. The first has detailed planning consent for 292 new homes subject to signing a section 106 agreement and the other phase has outline consent for a further 254 homes.
The regeneration of Chrisp Street market is a development opportunity in partnership with Poplar HARCA. This project is at an earlier stage but the aim is to start development in 2017 with phased completions anticipated over a seven year construction programme. With Poplar HARCA retaining a small interest in the development, it has the potential to add more than £300m to Telford Homes’ pipeline, the company said.
Telford Homes chief executive Jon Di-Stefano said: "Telford Homes is one of the most respected developers in London and we are targeting significant growth over the next 10 years. The acquisition of the regeneration business of United House Developments represents an excellent opportunity to make a substantial addition to our development pipeline including longer term strategic opportunities. The four exciting developments being acquired are in locations where housing demand remains strong and we look forward to working with the various partners already involved in the schemes."
United House Developments chief executive Rick de Blaby said: "This transaction completes a wholesale restructuring of the United House Group which started last summer, when we demerged our construction business. United House Group is now in a debt free position and liberated to develop out the balance of our portfolio, whose end value exceeds £150m, and return to our core expertise of delivering bespoke, niche London residential developments upon which we have earned a widely respected reputation. The regeneration schemes which we have nurtured and the relationships we have with our joint venture partners are hugely important and valuable to us, and given the scale of the investment they need going forward, I am confident that in Telford Homes and Jon's team we have passed them into the best possible hands."
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