KPMG submits plan for 400 homes in Newton Heath

ACCOUNTANCY firm KPMG has submitted an outline application to build up to 400 homes and around 180,000 sq ft of employment space on a 47-acre brownfield site in Newton Heath.

The accountancy firm is bringing forward the application as administrator of Lexi Holdings – the bridging loans firm owned by Shaid Luqman which collapsed in 2006 owing Barclays more than £100m.

The site is the former Jacksons Brickworks on Ten Acres Lane in Newton Heath and the proposals have been designed by architects Taylor Young, with GL Hearn acting as planning consultants.

The commercial space proposed is for “flexible” units, which can either be used as industrial or office space via a series of 2-3 storey buildings. New access points are also being built into the site.

A design statement prepared by the team bringing the site forward states that the plans will “contribute to the wider regeneration of the area”.

“It will also bring investment and employment opportunities that are made even more important by the effects of the current economic recession,” it adds.

New cycle and pedestrian routes are also proposed for the northern part of the site bordering the Rochdale Canal.

The scheme is only just being brought forwards now – almost six years after the collapse of Lexi Holdings – as there had been an ownership dispute between Barclays and the site’s former owner, Trevor Guy.

Mr Guy, a property developer from Harrogate, had bought the site in 2003 with a view to developing it for housing. He had talked to Lexi Holdings about a bridging loan, but had always ascertained that the land had been transferred out of his ownership to a company associated with Lexi without his authority.

Under its ownership, Lexi Holdings used the asset as security for loans provided by Barclays, which later recalled its loans and sought to exercise its security in a bid to sell the site to recoup payment.

A series of disputes between Barclays and Mr Guy followed, which were only resolved in 2010 when Mr Guy was refused the right to appeal against an earlier judgment granting Barclays’ claim over the land.

Since the collapse of Lexi Holdings, founder Shaid Luqman has twice served prison terms for contempt of court proceedings relating to attempts to seize his assets. He fled the country in September last year while wearing an electronic tag.