NINE COMPANIES SHORT-LISTED FOR £1bn HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS
Gateshead Council have announced the nine firms or consortiums who are bidding to undertake housing developments worth up to £1bn in Gateshead.
Gateshead Council launched a procurement exercise last November aimed at finding a Joint Venture Partner to develop a number of existing and potential housing sites throughout Gateshead.
The first stage of the procurement exercise is now complete and 15 possible partners have been reduced down to nine, who will now receive an Invitation To Participate in Dialogue (ITPD).
The nine companies are:
- Barratt Homes
- CM Yuill and Gentoo
- Compendium Group (comprising Riverside group and Lovell Partnership)
- Home Group and Galifordtry
- Keepmoat
- McInerney Homes NE
- Miller Homes
- Persimmon Homes
- Taylor Wimpey
The purpose of the ITPD is to provide background to the Council's objectives and its requirements for a joint venture vehicle. The dialogue will also help Gateshead Council to assess the solutions proposed by the bidders and decide which can best meet the Council's needs and objectives.
Stuart Timmiss, Head of Planning and Environmental Strategy for Gateshead Council, says: "We are very pleased with the response. Developers have confirmed that this is right approach, especially in today's economic climate."
"We have had 15 high quality expressions of interest and whittling them down to nine has been difficult. However, the next stage is about clarifying which of the developers share our ambitions for high quality, sustainable places, and understand the long-term commitment needed to work alongside our communities and do everything necessary to make this project succeed."
As part of the next stage of the selection process, each of the nine companies will be asked to submit more detailed proposals for the delivery of housing and neighbourhood regeneration. Gateshead Council expects to short-list three companies for the final round of the project.
In June last year, Gateshead Council agreed to procure a lead developer or a consortium to transform no less than 19 separate sites, most of which are within the Bridging Newcastle Gateshead (BNG) area of Gateshead, which is part of one of nine housing market renewal pathfinders in the North and Midlands.
The proposal will lead to the construction of over 2,500 new family homes as well as improvements to existing homes in Central Gateshead, developing what appears to be largest housing regeneration project in the UK.
The gross development value of the proposal is around £1bn which, when taking into account other major projects in Gateshead such as the Town Centre redevelopment, the £300m Baltic Business Quarter and other Quayside developments, means that Gateshead is now one of the biggest regeneration areas in the UK and one of the largest regeneration programmes outside London.
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From: Iain Lynn, Communications, Gateshead Council (0191) 433 2072 e-mail: iainlynn@gateshead.gov.uk
February 16, 2009 11:18