National Grid plc ("National Grid") and The Berkeley Group Holdings plc ("Berkeley") today announced the establishment of a new Joint Venture to develop major residential and mixed-use development schemes across London and the South East. The partnership, to be named St William Homes LLP ("St William"), brings together access to a significant portfolio of brownfield land owned by National Grid Property in key areas of housing need with Berkeley's expertise to design, build and market new developments.
National Grid has over 20 sites in London and the South East with the potential to provide over 14,000 homes over the next 10-15 years. In its first phase, St William aims to develop more than 7,000 new homes, including over 2,000 affordable homes. Development at this scale would also deliver 5,500 jobs, 2 new schools and 22 acres of public open space, transforming 84 acres of former industrial land and contributing over £150m to local infrastructure and amenities.
The joint venture will have funds available of up to £700m, making it one of the top ten house-builders in Britain by turnover. This is new capital which will deliver additional homes and help tackle the housing crisis. It aims to commence development activity on its first site in 2016, with the first homes being delivered in 2017.
Steve Holliday, the Chief Executive of National Grid, said:
'By bringing together Berkeley's development expertise with National Grid Property sites, we hope to transform redundant land that was once at the heart of the industrial revolution to meet the housing and commercial needs of the 21st century.'
Rob Perrins, Managing Director of the Berkeley Group, said:
'This is good news for homebuilding. St William will take these sites and turn them into new communities. I am delighted to be working with a partner like National Grid which shares our values and has such a strong pipeline of land and assets.'
National Grid and Berkeley will be equal shareholders of St William, each owning 50% of the equity. National Grid's investment in St William is limited to the value of the sites acquired by the JV. Funding of the £700m will be through a combination of shareholder equity and bank funding at an equity-to-debt ratio of approximately 50:50.
For further information, please contact:
- Stephanie Van Rosse, National Grid: 07767 337343 (stephanie.van-rosse@nationalgrid.com)
- Ellie Joyce / Rebecca Harper, Open Road: 0207 260 2700 (ngproperty@theopen-road.com)
- Matt Bell, Berkeley Group: 07825.196143 (matt.bell@berkeleygroup.co.uk)
- Andrew Porter / Emma Walsh, Brunswick: 0207 404 5959 (berkeleygroup@brunswickgroup.com)
Notes to editors:
St William Homes LLP
- The name has been chosen to recognise William Murdoch, a Scottish engineer and the pioneer of gas lighting, leading to him being commonly known as the father of gas. The advent of gas lighting led to the development of town gas works, gasholders and the use of gas that we are familiar with today.
National Grid:
- National Grid is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world. We own and manage the grids that connect people to the energy they need, from whatever the source. In Britain and the north-eastern states of the US we run systems that deliver gas and electricity to millions of people, businesses and communities.
- In Britain, we run the gas and electricity systems that our society is built on, delivering gas and electricity across the country. In the North Eastern US, we connect more than seven million gas and electric customers to vital energy sources, essential for our modern lifestyles.
- Our portfolio of other businesses is mainly concerned with infrastructure provision and related services where we can exploit our core skills and assets to create value. These businesses operate in areas such as Metering, Grain LNG Import, Interconnectors and Property. National Grid Carbon Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of National Grid and it undertakes Carbon Capture Storage related activities on behalf of National Grid.
- National Grid manages the National Gas Emergency Service free phone line on behalf of the industry - 0800 111 999 (all calls are recorded and may be monitored).
The Berkeley Group
- The Berkeley Group is one of Britain's leading housebuilders. It operates across London and the South of England, creating fantastic homes in amazing places. In 2014, Berkeley supported 21,000 jobs. Each new home sustained 5.6 jobs across the UK and Berkeley contributed £1.4 billion to Britain's GDP.
- Berkeley has historically carried out a number of joint ventures with a wide range of partners including Thames Water, Land Securities, Development Securities, Prudential and Chelsfield. Current joint ventures include St Edward with Prudential and St Katharine with the Wellcome Trust.
Advisers
- National Grid was advised by Deloitte and CMS
Photographs
- Photographs are available at the following Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/128196607@N05/sets/72157648628424409/