Place 100, 2009: 1 to 15
In association with Halliwells and Roland Dransfield PR
Contents
►Place 100, 2009: 16 to 30
►Place 100, 2009: 31 to 100 A-E
►Place 100, 2009: 31 to 100 F-L
►Place 100, 2009: 31 to 100 M-Z
1. John Whittaker / Chairman / Peel Holdings / Development, Retail, Energy, Ports, Airports / North West. Another dull year ends with the biggest planning application in UK history, for 15m sq ft of development at Wirral Waters. Even before the application, putting Whittaker at the top spot was by far the easiest decision the judges had to make.
Always diverse, Peel spent much of 2009 stepping up the energy side of the business to tap into the growing low carbon policy agenda. It secured a £5m grant from NWDA for a feasibility study into a tidal generator in the Mersey estuary. Began consulting on plans for a wind farm in Frodsham, which has attracted fierce opposition from local residents. Not that that will worry Whittaker one bit. Won consent after public inquiry for Ince Park: Resource Recovery, a waste-fuelled incinerator power station and business park on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, which it owns. A JV with a power station operator is expected in the New Year.
Received planning consent after more than five years waiting for the Port Salford inter-modal freight terminal to take cargo to and from rail, road and the Ship Canal. Continued apace on Media City UK for BBC, Salford University, and others, though more lettings are needed to maintain market confidence.
In autumn 2008 Whittaker launched the £50bn Ocean Gateway campaign for special planning dispensation for 12 'exemplar projects' on the Mersey/Ship Canal corridor: Liverpool and Wirral Waters, Royal Seaforth Post-Panamax Container Terminal, Liverpool International Business Park (Speke Garston) Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Port Salford, Salford Forest Park, Media City UK, Ellesmere Quays and Runcorn Waterfront, Port Wirral and Port Warrington, Trafford Quays, Trafford Wharfside and Salford Quays.
Peel deputy chairman Robert Hough became chairman of the North West Development Agency, the region's most powerful government agency, which perhaps says more than the rest of the detail about the group's influence.
2. Duke of Westminster / Chairman / Grosvenor / Development / Liverpool and Eaton, Cheshire. Too good for the people of Liverpool, snipe the Mancunians. Almost makes us want to visit the place, sneer the Londoners. The overheard jibes reveal everything about the quality of Grosvenor's city centre triumph. The awards, like the shoppers, keep coming: British Council of Shopping Centres Gold winner, RIBA Stirling nominee. Even Habitat felt it safe to return. Who needs Chester, cry the Cheshire housewives. The 160-store scheme is 96% let and trading its socks off. The Duke's men on the ground, Guy Butler, retail projects director, and Chris Bliss, estate director, run a stylish and efficient operation. The losses may be significant, around £300m to date, and Grosvenor has diluted its stake to less than 25% so may have trouble recouping them, but the people of Liverpool will be eternally grateful to His Grace, Gerald Grosvenor, the Duke. Only he could have delivered such a vast scheme in one four-year construction phase.
Neil Varnham, chairman of the BCSC Gold Awards jury and director of Cadena, said at the awards in December 2009: "Liverpool One is probably one of the most challenging regeneration projects of our time - achieving the maintenance of the urban grain, with a revitalised retail offer linking the scheme to the dock area. It is undoubtedly a benchmark for the UK shopping centre industry in demonstrating successful delivery of the Government's urban agenda. It has truly regenerated one of our most well-known cities."
Few blamed Grosvenor for its decision to pull out of Preston Tithebarn after ten years of planning and site assembly. The prospect of another costly public inquiry and repeating the losses of Liverpool One were too much.
Guy Butler on 2009: "The year proved productive on many fronts. One Park West saw £24m of residential sales, 120 residential lettings and a number of commercial tenants complete leases. The £55m Liverpool Hilton was completed, opened and sold, and the former John Lewis was split, let and sold at just shy of £30m. All part of the £120m-plus of Liverpool sales in 2009, and on top of the management of the now consolidated Liverpool One estate."
The Duke of Westminster is pictured above in the centre with Rod Holmes, the first Liverpool One project director, and Lorraine Rogers, chief executive of The Mersey Partnership at a dinner in His Grace's honour
3. Chris Oglesby / Chief Executive /
Bruntwood / Office Development and Management / Manchester and
Liverpool
Bruntwood's timing in raising £440m through a mortgage backed securitisation against 48 properties in February 2007 was impeccable and ensured that the recession was far less challenging than for most, though there have inevitably been job losses and slower sales. This year saw the company's first new-build development completed at One New York Street on time and budget and letting well.
The Oglesbys showed their establishment credentials with forthright support of the pro-TIF congestion charge campaign at Sir Howard Bernstein's and Sir Richard Leese's sides. Bruntwood was also one of the few corporate sponsors to stay in the Manchester International Festival in '09. Founder and chairman Michael Oglseby is chairman of Midas, the inward investment agency. Bruntwood is also lending resources and buildings to the eco-city research project between Manchester City Council and Manchester University to examine green technology.
4. Phil Basten / Head of Property Finance Unit / The Co-operative Bank / Manchester. How times have changed. Once thought dull and dreary by consumers and business folk alike, the Co-operative Bank has enjoyed newfound fame as canny bankers and ethical operators during these tainted times.
The bank's core market is £1m to £25m property loans, with a cautious lending pattern and 'traditional values' that have left it relatively distant from the banking crisis. Hence the long queue of enquiries from developers at Basten's door. Basten, a frequent and insightful speaker at business events in the past year, maintains existing clients keep the bank's attention for the time being. The bank has £2bn on its books already and always keeps loans below the level of deposits.
Basten has been closely involved with North West regional housing initiatives and accessing Kickstart funds from HCA on clients' behalf. The Co-op was part of the lending club that saved Ask Developments (qv) from getting too close to the edge this year.
Judges were keen also to recognise how Manchester's biggest private company is reinventing itself as a modern business empire. Central to that process is a massive new headquarters and redevelopment of 20 acres near Victoria Station. The ambitious project is led by estates director Lynda Shillaw.
5. Michelle Taylor / North West Regional Director / St Modwen / Development / Warrington. The national regeneration specialist has enjoyed a curiously successful year, thanks largely due to the misfortune of rivals that were once standing in its way. The large-scale redevelopment of Skelmersdale town centre in West Lancashire is back on the drawing board after the decision to reject Everton FC/Tesco's plans for a stadium and retail park in neighbouring Kirkby removed unwanted competition.
St Modwen defeated Tesco again at the £100m Project Jennifer scheme on Great Homer Street in Liverpool where another inquiry ruled against rival plans by Sir Terry Leahy's retail giant.
Taylor and co's work in unfashionable Widnes and Wythenshawe has been transformational and doesn't get the credit it deserves, judges said. St Modwen has spent ten years rebuilding Wythenshawe's core and the latest phase will start on site next year with 85,000 sq ft of pre-lets to Netto, Wilkinson and Manchester City Council for a 500-strong divisional office.
Taylor qualified as a chartered surveyor in 1986 and has been with St Modwen since 1989, becoming regional director in 1997.
6. Gavin Elliott / North West Chairman / Building Design Partnership / Architecture and Design / Manchester and Liverpool. New buildings and urban layout by BDP have re-set the standard for North West architecture. The eye-catching BDP Manchester studio, in the Piccadilly area of the city, is arguably the greenest building in the city and won British Council of Offices and RIBA awards this year. The Liverpool studio picked up two RIBA North West awards and many admirers for Liverpool One and was nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize for its masterplan by Elliott's colleague Terry Davenport, who has since been nabbed by Ikea to do a similar trick with a site in Moscow. Chester Renaissance also recruited BDP to address three parts of the city centre. BDP is behind the design of The Rock retail district in Bury, which will be one of the only big retail projects to open in 2010.
As well as shopping, BDP likes sporting events: having won further awards for the redevelopmnent of the Aintree grandstand in Liverpool. The firm worked on the expansion of Manchester United's ground and is working on the Lancashire County Cricket Club redevelopment nearby.
Elliott was named chairman of BDP's Manchester office, the largest architectural team in the region, with responsibility for design in the North in the summer of 2008.
7. Matt Crompton / Joint Managing Director / Muse Developments / Salford. The steady stewardship by parent group Morgan Sindall appears to have given Crompton and his ex-Amec colleagues a new lease of life. Crompton is responsible for a forward development portfolio of 20m sq ft across the North with an end value of circa £4bn. Muse's leadership of the public-private English Cities Fund (with Legal & General and the HCA) has produced much-need grade A offices at St Paul's Square in Liverpool. The third phase is on site now after a hefty grant was squeezed out of ERDF/NWDA.
Plans have gone in for the £220m Blackpool Talbot Gateway project this year and ECF is planning big things at Chapel Street with Central Salford URC. A partnership with Network Rail at Manchester Victoria, work at Smithfield in Manchester's Northern Quarter, business parks Lingley Mere, Ashton Moss and Cheadle Royal, all justify Muse's place at the top table of North West developers.
Crompton on 2009:
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"The next year will be just as challenging as 2009."
8. John Downes / Managing Director / Langtree Group / Development / Newton-le-Willows. Downes continues to grow the developer founded and still ultimately controlled by Bill Ainscough. Langtree has ridden out the economic storm remarkably well. Renewed and increased its banking arrangements with HBOS, even acquiring more sites for its mainstay of multi-let office and industrial parks. The company now owns and manages 4m sq ft of commercial property accommodating over 800 tenants. The portfolio has a net asset value of over £100m and produces a rental income of circa £15m a year.
During the year, Langtree invited tenders for its £40m stadium project with St Helens Rugby League Club and Tesco; and acquired from administrators David McLean's stake in the former International Garden Festival site in Liverpool where it secured a grant to renovate the former gardens.
Downes on 2009: "While recessions are traditionally known for emphasising weaknesses within companies, they also serve to highlight those companies that are built on solid foundations and are not only able to adapt to challenging conditions, but can also capitalise their positions and emerge stronger. The actions that we have taken in the last year will ensure that the Company faces an uncertain future with greater certainty."
9. Steve Parry / Managing Director / Neptune Developments / Liverpool. Has any developer been more active on site and made more effective use of public sector support this year than Neptune?
The 155,000 sq ft second phase of Cathedral Park for the multi-agency Liverpool Science Park programme, completed and let, even after its original contractor went to the wall. The £35m mixed-use redevelopment of Southport floral hall gardens and pavilion for Sefton Council, completed and occupied by a casino, conference centre, Ramada Plaza hotel and leisure operators.
The £75m 250,000 sq ft makeover of New Brighton into modern retail, residential and leisure, started enabling works on site late 2009, after overcoming an earlier inquiry rejection, with pre-lets to Morrison's, The Light and Travelodge.
But it is the progress at Mann Island, in joint venture with Countryside Properties (qv), on Liverpool's historic prime waterfront, which really caught the eye this year. In January Parry pre-let the 140,000 sq ft office phase of the scheme to public transport body Merseytravel, and secured a £3m grant from the NWDA for unfilled floors. The office was subsequently pre-sold to the major German Fund CommerzReal at a break-even £47m, a rare foray into the city by foreign investors.
Neptune also cracked on with construction by BAM (qv) and reported strong sales at the two angular black granite residential blocks at the front of the site, due for completion in 2010, and was unscathed by the collapse of part of the Dylan Harvey Residential group, which had acquired the entire 376 flats off plan through a separate vehicle that was unaffected by its woes. The Broadway Malyan-designed (qv) scheme has upset some locals due to its sensitive location next to the Port of Liverpool, Cunard and Royal Liver Buildings but is of the highest quality, regardless of heritage opinion, judges agreed.
An impressive year all round, especially apt as Neptune was founded out of the ashes of the early Nineties recession by Parry and Peter Hynd, who remains a shareholder but is only loosely involved in the day-to-day management, having retired years ago.
Parry on 2009: "The legacy of Liverpool's Capital of Culture was very clear with the continuing increase in the number of visitors but also with the number of attractions available for them to enjoy with the opening of Liverpool One and the new Liverpool Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre. The success of these projects has done much to restore confidence in Liverpool and stimulate demand and further investment despite the current recession.
"We are now looking forward to the highlights of 2010, the completion of the first phase of Mann Island, and the commencement on site of two of our major schemes, New Brighton and Wolverhampton."
10. Mike Ingall / Chief Executive / Allied London / Development / Manchester. One of very few examples on the list of a senior player who can make himself well known in the region without being based here on a full-time basis. Allied London's epic Spinningfields development has continued to dominate demand from prime office occupiers in Manchester city centre for yet another year. The 350,000 sq ft 3 Hardman Street, one of a dozen new buildings, is now 85% let after completing at the start of the year. Following a spate of pre-lets in '08, this year has seen further deals to national law firm Shoosmiths, accountant PKF, lawyer Beachcroft, the General Medical Council and Pure Gym. Allied said 35 companies have taken premises at Spinningfields in the past two years.
A slow burn at the Deansgate-fronting retail offer of The Avenue appears to be bearing fruit with a strong line-up of high-end fashion names - Joseph, Armani, Mulberry, Brooks Brothers - due to open in 2010.
A constant drive to promote the public realm is brining life to the area with Christmas carousels following this summer's big screen sport and films.
The prospect of upmarket hotels and leisure in-fill between the corporate blocks is a mouth-watering one given Allied's build quality but will the punters be satiated in 2010?
11. David Partridge / Joint CEO / Argent Group / Development / Manchester. Although based mainly in London, where he is involved with the huge King's Cross redevelopment, down-to-earth former architect Partridge is, like Ingall above, closely associated with Manchester. Defied critics a decade ago with One Piccadilly Gardens which kick-started the area's ongoing recovery, before turning attention to transforming a grot-spot opposite Piccadilly Station.
This year has been good for him with over 100,000 sq ft of lettings at Three Piccadilly Place and the completion of Four Piccadilly Place, both owned by private equity group Carlyle.
Also whetted the appetite with attractive plans for the replacement of eyesore Elisabeth House on St Peter's Square, to be renamed One St Peter's Square, a 270,000 sq ft office that will require a chunky pre-let to start.
Argent is nearing completion of the 76,000 sq ft The Hive in the trendy off-prime Northern Quarter after selling the freehold to the council and agreeing a pre-let to the Arts Council.
Partridge, whose effortless ebullience is key to his enduring success in the city, is ex-chairman of Cityco, the Manchester city centre management company and ex-chairman of the Piccadilly Partnership.
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The success of the Midland hotel in Morecambe and strategic holdings in Salford, Liverpool and Manchester ensure there is more to come when the climate improves.
13. Derek Bald / Head of Real Estate, North Region / Santander Corporate Banking / Finance / Manchester. Joined Santander Corporate Banking from Bank of Scotland Corporate in November 2008. During 2009 he was appointed head of real estate finance for the bank's North region and recruited a team of real estate specialists covering Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England.
Santander includes Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley but will rebrand simply as Santander, after the Spanish parent group, in January. It is one of the strongest banks in Europe and Bald has managed to get sign-off for 'a number of new bank relationships', though details are kept close to his chest.
Santander was often the first name on developers' lips when asked who is still lending in 2009 and the judges were no different.
14. Jim Spencer / Chairman / Spencer Holdings Group / Development / Knowsley. Spencer's portfolio consists of 101 estates across the UK, totalling in excess of 5m sq ft of industrial, office and trade counter space.
Spencer started buying industrial property in Merseyside in the 1960s and had various businesses over the years including scrap metal and steel storage before ramping up his interest in property when prices fell during the recession of 20 years ago. And he hasn't looked back. He runs a small but prolific office in Knowsley Business Park and has continued to buy sites and build speculative space in the past year.
He refinanced with a £200m Bank of Scotland loan in 2007 and still has cash to spend on suitable sites.
His latest concept is the Venture offices brand, which will provide flexible self-contained office space for new start-up businesses.
Spencer secured 115 new lettings in 2009, and plans to start the 100,000 sq ft Knowsley Gateway development including offices, retail and a hotel situated adjacent next to their headquarters in the coming months.
The group includes construction and management companies that handle the group's portfolio, as well as a staff pension fund that performs well and may lead to managing portfolios for third-party funds.
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Owns and manages around 1m sq ft of office space in Liverpool alone. Other prized assets include the sumptuous Port of Liverpool Building. Together he has spent £30m refurbishing The Capital and Port of Liverpool for modern users.
Spends much of his time flying between his home in Switzerland and managing his £500m of mixed-use schemes under development across Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester.
