Belgravia walks away from pair of Preston deals
The developer exchanged contracts for two development sites with permission for a combined 776 homes last year but concerns around viability mean the firm will now focus its attention elsewhere.
The 469-apartment Stoneygate Central, which Belgravia rebranded as Urban Village, is now back on the market after the £6.3m deal agreed between the developer and vendor Stoneygate Living fell through.
Belgravia has also walked away from a deal to acquire Lofthaus, a 21-storey co-living development.
Christopher Howell, head of family at Belgravia, said the company had called time on the deals due to viability constraints.
“Recently, the market landscape has changed, with rising build costs, high interest rates, and ongoing regulatory changes,” he said.
“Despite employing best-in-class teams and working tirelessly for 12 months to make the schemes viable, a report from Savills showed a £24m deficit, ultimately forcing Belgravia’s hand.”
Howell also said that no investor deposits had been taken for homes within either of the schemes and that ditching the deals had hit the company in the pocket.
“Belgravia self-funded over £5m across the two development schemes, shouldering all costs rather than taking on external investment or off-plan sales.
“This decision to prioritise mitigating risk over generating revenue came at a significant financial cost to the company and reflects [our] commitment to ethical practices even at great personal cost.”
Belgravia will now focus its attention elsewhere. The company plans to convert the 48,000 sq ft Hordan House in Birkenhead into apartments.
‘Regulatory changes’ killing viability, eh? Expect more of this as Labour burdens businesses with more costs and regulations.
By Anonymous
Disappointing for Preston as things seemed to be all positive over the last 12 months. As a city its really well positioned on the West Coast Main Line.
By Anonymous
Fake news
By Anonymous
This is shame, there is plenty of land and derelict building in Preston which would be great for high density residential. Preston really needs focus on town centre residential
By Jon P
Really surprised that design isnt viable
By Mr Sarcasm
Do we really think the developer lost £5m? Costs have stabilised and slightly come down over the last year or two so why is it not viable anymore
By Martin
Regulatory changes are required, as decades of systematic de-regulation of the construction industry killed 72 people at Grenfell.
By GBG
Not clear if “exchanged contracts”, followed by “will now focus its attention elsewhere” means they’ve abandoned the contracts, nor if they did it by legal or extralegal means.
Also, pretty shallow, non-challenging reporting, in that:
– the references to “the market changes” are rather oblique.
– the “elsewhere” is mysterious, isn’t it? Is the market better elsewhere? EU, perhaps? East Anglia? Please.
By Aragorn
Hi Aragorn. As the article states, the market changes include: rising build costs, high interest rates, and ongoing regulatory changes. Belgravia’s other live project is in Birkenhead, also mentioned in the article. Best wishes, Dan
By Dan Whelan
“Costs have stabilised and slightly come down over the last year or two”
Tell me you don’t work in construction without saying you don’t work in construction.
By Anonymous