Urban&Civic buys residential scheme in the UK

The existing consented land extends to 907 acres in two local authority areas, Corby Borough and East Northamptonshire District. 

Separately, Urban&Civic has acquired a further 58 acres of mostly contiguous woodland for an additional £550,000 to take the total invested to £40.5 mln.

Priors Hall is being acquired from Deloitte, acting as administrator.
 
Priors Hall has an existing outline planning consent for 5,095 units, some of which have been sold to seven different housebuilders and are in the process of being built out.  The development is split into three residential phases with the new homes set within lakes, open parkland and forests.

Urban&Civic is acquiring 3,656 uncontracted plots, comprising Phases 2 and 3, and the benefit of outstanding sums on Phase 1. The company expects to receive nearly £12 mln from Phase 1 housebuilder contracts. Housebuilders on site include Barratt and David Wilson, Taylor Wimpey, Kier and Francis Jackson Homes.
 
The scheme already has more than 1,000 residents and there were close to 200 housing completions in the 12 months to March 2017.
 
The purchase of Priors Hall is being part funded by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), which is also making available additional facilities to cover future forecast infrastructure spend, for a total financing of £45.4 mln. 

The company said it expects to invest a maximum of £15 mln of equity capital in the project.
 
'The acquisition is right in our sweet spot: complicated history, long and supportive funding structure, demonstrable potential for better project organisation and improved planning. Plus the fundamentals are strong: 68 minute direct rail service into London and 7 million people living within 50 miles,' said Nigel Hugill, chief executive of Urban&Civic. 'Recent house price growth in the local area is amongst the highest in the country, whilst Priors Hall has been achieving sales of around 200 new homes a year despite being under managed and over leveraged.'