Latest News

Gathered here are news stories from all our publications, covering many of the biggest regeneration projects across the UK.

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SEEDA braced for cuts

Published: 2010-05-26 09:36:09

The South East England Development Agency is braced for deep funding cuts after the Government's review of public spending. (Sourced from Kent Business.)
 
SEEDA is one of several regional development agencies facing an overall £270m reduction as part of £836bn savings from the business department's budget. read more

Search is on to find more of Notts' historic treasures

Published: 2010-05-26 09:20:25

The search is on to highlight more of Nottingham's historic buildings. (Sourced from This is Nottingham.)
 
Nottingham City Council and Nottingham Civic Society want to update the authority's "Local List" of buildings with heritage value to the city. read more

Government budget cuts and regeneration: summary

Published: 2010-05-26 07:32:54

In outlining cuts totalling £6.243 billion for the year 2010/11, Treasury chief secretary David Laws also announced a series of policy changes. Several of these have implications for regeneration and housing programmes.
 
•England's regional development agencies will have to save £270 million in the current financial year through "ending lower value spending".
 
•Departments across Whitehall will have to save more than £1.5 billion in the current financial year through "delaying and stopping contracts and projects". read more

Barratt consortium in £450m Newcastle win

Published: 2010-05-25 09:29:54

Main construction work on a £450m regeneration of Newcastle’s West End will finally start this summer following the appointment of a development partner for the scheme. (Sourced from Construction Enquirer.)
 
Council chiefs have appointed the Barratt Keepmoat Yuill (BKY) consortium as its private sector partner to revitalise Scotswood. read more

Last blocks on Market Estate set to bite dust

Published: 2010-05-25 09:20:47

The bulldozers have finally moved in to rip down the last remaining three blocks on a deserted Holloway estate. (Sourced from Islington Gazzette.)
 
Tamworth and the last two Clocktower Place blocks on the Market Estate, Holloway, will be gone forever come the end of August, as the decaying 1960s blocks are replaced by a posh-looking new development called Parkside Place. read more

Core Cities makes case for sustaining regeneration support

Published: 2010-05-25 08:08:54

The Coalition Government has announced a reduction of £270 million in regional development association (RDA) budgets as part of the £6.2 billion of cuts in spending for 2010-11.
 
The Government has also made it clear that radical changes in how regional development is managed are also on the way.
 
"It's not clear what the scope of the changes will be, or what it will mean for some functions currently within the RDAs," said Chris Murray, director, Core Cities.
 
"It's likely that we will end up with different arrangements in different places. What we must avoid is a recentralisation of functions."
 
A great deal remains to be clarified, including the use of business rates for local reinvestment and some form of national funding for infrastructure. As Treasury ministers have promised to review every spending commitment above a certain level, there could well be further cutbacks on infrastructure and regeneration investment. read more

US firm capitalises on TIF experience

Published: 2010-05-24 13:28:26

"One thing we know for certain: done well and done right, TIFs work."
 
That's according to Greg Stype, partner at international law firm Squire, Sanders and Dempsey. He is a tax increment finance (TIF) specialist who has been involved in more than 50 TIF projects.
 
His firm has worked on hundreds of TIF schemes in the US, where TIF is regularly used as a vehicle to finance infrastructure for regeneration schemes using future projected tax streams as collateral to raise finance for upfront funding.
 
As the UK takes its first steps towards implementing TIF-based schemes, Stype identified some useful US lessons for SocInvest. Some were relevant to the framers of legislation; others relate to project scoping and implementation.
 
"Legislation needs to be flexible," he began, "and it needs to be enabling." read more

RBC sees huge potential in housing rental sector

Published: 2010-05-24 13:11:50

Matthew Houseley, managing director and head of social infrastructure at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets, is bullish about private funding for social housing.
 
"There is huge potential demand in the regeneration sector," he told SocInvest. "We would welcome well-structured propositions."
 
As the housing sector braces itself for further government cuts and regeneration projects run out of steam or collapse, Royal Bank of Canada maintained that it has an undiminished appetite for funding schemes that meet its investment criteria. That is also good news for local authorities following the slump in land values: the bank's focus on long-term rental streams mean that these values are not a factor in the investment evaluation.
 
"As we are not looking for sales, we prefer to take land and sales values out of the equation," said Houseley. read more

LABVs are still sound

Published: 2010-05-24 12:33:31

In an exclusive interview with Jamie Kerr, director of regeneration and education at John Laing, SocInvest asked about the scope for LABVs in today’s economic conditions.
 
"Some people say LABVs are very difficult in the current market and that authorities should not commit their assets to these vehicles," said Kerr. "But that's not the case. It is not necessary to fix land values at the outset – these partnerships can work up projects and add value for authorities both in terms of land value but also in progressing regeneration faster."
 
The economy may still be crawling out of recession, but asset-backed vehicles remain a sound option for regeneration projects in many circumstances, according to Kerr.
 
He pointed to recently announced projects, as well as the LABVs in which his company is involved in Croydon and Tunbridge Wells, as evidence of their continuing relevance. But is now a good time to launch a LABV? With a number of caveats, Kerr's answer was that they can still be the best option. read more

Shortlist announced for Housing Design Competition

Published: 2010-05-24 09:23:34

Three architects have been shortlisted in a competition to develop an outstanding new design for affordable housing in Islington.
 
Avanti Architects, Brady Mallalieu Architects and Levitt Bernstein were selected from 59 entries to the contest, run by Islington Council. read more

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