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regeneration helps martineau johnson seal £1 billion of property deals 01/08/2007 Images of regeneration are traditionally linked to Britain's biggest cities; glitzy new hotels, gleaming office buildings, and residential tower blocks stretching into the heavens.
Grand city centre schemes - such as Brindleyplace - are often seen as the sector's flagships, to be replicated throughout our urban environment.
However, one of Birmingham's best-known law firms - Martineau Johnson - has underlined its national credentials by bringing a regeneration mindset to the world of education.
Its teams at No 1 Colmore Square and in London have more than 80 of Britain's universities and colleges on their client roster; including the universities of Aston, Birmingham, Coventry and Warwick.
Martineau Johnson's 50-strong property team completed deals worth a shade over £1.1 billion during the last year, and is expected to break that figure in the current period.
The firm's latest regeneration scheme has seen it appointed to advise Bournville College on its plans for a new campus on part of the sprawling former MG Rover site at Longbridge.
Clive Read, who leads Martineau Johnson's property and development team, is also currently working with the University of Worcester, which is planning a brand new campus to underpin a learning quarter in the heart of the cathedral city.
"The university has bought the former Royal Infirmary site from Advantage West Midlands, with a view to creating a new campus as part of a major mixed-use scheme," said Read.
"The campus will combine academic, conference, residential and some retail accommodation in a project likely to be in excess of £60 million."
Whilst the Worcester scheme is one of the newer regeneration projects on Martineau Johnson's books, the practice has been working with education sector clients for years.
"We've been advising Coventry University on its plans to turn the former Rolls Royce site into a technology park since 1995," said Read.
"Even a small regeneration scheme will probably run for several years from its inception, through planning, financing, construction and occupation, and it's not unusual for a major project, especially on Brownfield land, to last for the best part of a decade."
However, despite the raft of major education projects on which Read and his colleagues work, he isn't surprised that the sector's impact on regeneration receives little attention.
"I think it's inevitable that the symbols we associate with physical regeneration are imposing and spectacular," he says.
"The Cube and the Mailbox are landmarks which catch your eye, as does the Radisson SAS hotel, whereas a new building at Aston University or a science park in Coventry or Wolverhampton won't have the same impact."
The long-term presence of many of Britain's universities and colleges has given them sizeable and valuable land holdings though.
"Oxford and Cambridge University are among the UK's biggest landowners, and although other educational establishments can't match the size of their estates, it's not unusual for a university to control several hundred acres," he says.
Read says even the smallest university will also have significant property assets, with the largest being key stakeholders and significant businesses who can act as a catalyst for major regeneration and economic impact.
Colleges and universities are in the process of transforming their physical estates, helping drive forward regional economies.
"Having first-class buildings helps attract and retain the best students and staff and brings longer term economic benefits if people enjoy their learning experience and stay in the region" commented Read.
"UK education has an excellent global reputation and brand, and one way of helping us attract overseas investment is to make sure the physical infrastructure matches expectations".
Read says sophisticated estate management strategies have led to dramatic changes since the mid-90s and many educational establishments have sought to maximise the return from their estates by selling surplus land to residential developers.
"Most have used the income to develop brand-new campuses, equipped with state-of-the-art teaching facilities, to make themselves more attractive to both sponsors and students," he says.
"Some have regenerated Brownfield land to establish science parks, such as Coventry University. Others, such as the University of Wales at Aberystwyth and Stratford College, have developed their estates to create new blocks of student accommodation."
Read's latest regeneration project outside the region involves an educational establishment so new that it doesn't exist.
A site for Suffolk College and the new University of Suffolk is being created via a complex series of land deals, so that's very much a project for the long-term.
He and colleagues meanwhile are advising Epping Forest College, which is looking to sell 10 acres of its estate to fund a new campus on an adjacent 20-acre site; a deal which also involves refurbishing a Grade II-listed building and building a joint library with the county council.
Read says such complexities typify regeneration projects, where clients are typically working with a series of partners and funding bodies.
"It does make the schemes challenging, but also very satisfying. It's a great feeling to see buildings coming out of the ground and to think you've played a part in the process."
For further information please contact Clive Read on
clive.read@martineau-uk.com |
