Laing

Following a hugely successful six months for Regenter, joint venture partners John Laing and Pinnacle Regeneration Group are looking forward to evolving their highly effective partnership to continue improving residential environments and the lives of communities across the UK.

Since the joint venture was formed in 2005 with the express purpose of bidding for, investing in and delivering housing led, community based regeneration schemes, Regenter has secured a total of six PFI projects. However it is within the past year that the partnership has really reaped the rewards of its combined expertise, having signed three separate PFI housing and regeneration deals in a four month period: Gateways to Oldham Housing PFI project reached financial close in November 2011; the Excellent Homes for Life Housing PFI project (Kirklees) reached financial close in December 2011; and the Myatts Field North Housing PFI project (Lambeth) reached financial close in March 2012.

To secure the three projects in such a short space of time was a significant challenge for the Regenter team, particularly against the background of the current banking climate. However through the flexibility of the partnership and by drawing on the diversity of the skills and experience held between John Laing and Pinnacle Regeneration Group, Regenter was able to offer bespoke solutions that have been able to meet the needs of the clients and the communities involved. Simultaneously, Regenter also managed to satisfy the increasingly stringent requirements of a value for money review.

Regenter’s success has firmly established it as a market leader in the housing and community regeneration PFI sector, a position that together, John Laing and Pinnacle Regeneration Group are keen to maintain and build on. Consequently, the partnership’s first step following its recent hard work and subsequent achievements is to draw breath and consider the current opportunities on offer within the sector. 

Regenter continues to focus on investment and delivery solutions for existing and new social rented housing, new affordable for sale housing, including intermediate ownership schemes, and private for sale housing. This is especially relevant to Regenter where local authorities are seeking to secure up-front, private sector capital investment to meet their social housing objectives and budget.

Furthermore, Social Housing reform - including the new Affordable Rent tenure, flexible tenancies and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) self-financing for Council-owned Housing - is likely to support long-term funding and operating models, such as Local Asset Backed Vehicles, or Property Partnerships as they are more commonly becoming known. Through John Laing’s experience with the Croydon Council Urban Regeneration Vehicle, the first local asset backed vehicle of its kind to be established in the UK, Regenter will be able to offer local authorities the opportunity to utilise its land as equity so that they will be able to benefit from the uplift of land values and receive a 50% share of the development profits, while Regenter would commit equity and expertise.

Jim Saunders, Managing Director for Regenter, said: “I am delighted that this joint venture between John Laing and Pinnacle Regeneration Group has proven to be so successful and I am excited about the future for Regenter. To have successfully closed three discrete projects in four months is testimony to the hard working and flexible collaboration between Regenter’s shareholders – with this in mind, now is the time to consider further opportunities and how we can evolve our skills to fulfill their objectives”.

Perry Lloyd, Chief Executive Officer for Pinnacle Regeneration Group, said:  “Regenter’s recent performance has been exceptional. To have closed three PFI projects inside six months would be considered an achievement under normal conditions, but to have done this at a time of significant economic uncertainty is worthy of considerable praise and is testament to the strength of the team and of the joint venture itself. We now have every intention of building on this for the future”.