Flood eyes expansion with London office
DAMIAN Flood’s Real Estate Developments has opened an office in London to target deals in the capital and attract investors to the North West.
The company is also keen to bolster its interests in the residential market and is considering tie-ups with volume housebuilders.
Mr Flood, the nephew of Modus founder Brendan Flood, specialises in working in partnership with other developers on mixed-use schemes, and also has an investment management business.
He is one of a number of ex-Modus executives who set up on their own after the Salford developer collapsed in 2009. Others include Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital & Centric, and Mike Ralph and Anthony Kilbride who are now working with Gary Neville at Zerum.
Mr Flood said: “When you speak to London fund managers and the guys who are keen to drive investment, Manchester is the city they look at after London.
“It’s a fantastic market down there. It’s not suffered from the financial downturn – it might’ve benefited because there’s been a shrinking back from the rest of the UK to London.
“A lot of the bigger funding comes out of London and they’re happy to look at Manchester as a development opportunity, but you’ve got to be in London to be taken seriously.”
Real Estate Developments is working on several schemes funded by Peveril Securities, a subsidiary of the Derbyshire construction firm Bowmer & Kirkland. These include a 30,000 sq ft Tesco in Little Lever, Bolton, a supermarket scheme in Darwen which also includes a new research centre for acrylic-based products manufacturer Lucite, and a retail park near Chester-le-Street in the North East.
It has just completed the conversion of Howard Town Mill in Glossop into shops and apartments, and also has a tie-up with Barnfield at a mixed use scheme in Dukinfield.
The investment arm – Real Estate Investment Partnerships – has £90m of assets under management. In recent years it has acquired the Northern Quarter residential block Jewel House with Crewe-based car dealer Swansway and 300 houses in Burnley with a Jersey-based vehicle called Annatex.
“We’re looking for new opportunities in the residential sector in partnership with housing associations, institutions and private individuals,” said Mr Flood, who has seen the market become more competitive as confidence returns.
“Two years ago we were one of three bidders, now it’s multiple bidders. Because of the interest, the distress in the price is getting squeezed out.”
“We might need to get close to some high volume house builders and talk to them about Built to Rent [a Government fund to stimulate rented housing supply] to provide rented stock.”
Real Estate Developments has a team of six including another ex-Modus man James Ridings, a partner on the development side, Stephen Slater, who works on investments, and Brendan Flood who is chairman.
