Pirelli factory scheme green-lighted as St Modwen surges on
ST Modwen has won planning permission to develop the former Pirelli factory in Burton upon Trent into a large mixed use scheme comprising offices, up to 300 homes, a hotel, restaurants, a pub and commercial units.
The Birmingham developer issued a trading statement this morning for the financial year ended November 30 and said its performance has continued to be good “driven by its robust business model and ability to add value to its portfolio via planning gains and intensive asset management”.
The firm said its residential business is moving from strength to strength, with good sales rates and on-going demand for its land.
“We continue to secure planning permissions across the UK, one of the most recent being East Staffordshire Borough Council’s approval of plans to create a 30 acre development on disused parts of the Pirelli Factory Site in Burton upon Trent,” it said.
“Our first full year of housebuilding activity has proven very successful across the UK, both for St Modwen Homes and our Persimmon joint venture.”
St Modwen said its commercial schemes across the UK have also progressed well.
This includes the £50m transformation of Hednesford Town Centre which comprises two development phases known as ‘Chase Gateway’ and ‘Victoria Shopping Park’.
At the latter, the sale of the 85,000 sq ft Tesco foodstore has now completed and opened for business last week with the associated retail opening in time for Christmas trading. At Chase Gateway, Aldi has recently agreed to purchase a 15,650 sq ft store which will open in late spring 2013.
In London the firm has now agreed terms with the London Borough of Southwark and expects to conclude shortly the legal agreement which will start the large-scale regeneration of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre.
On completion the scheme is expected to provide up to 350,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space and 1,000 new homes. It is currently working up the plans with a view to submitting a planning application in late 2013, with the intention of starting the development in late 2015.
“The success of our retail bond issue in October, which raised £80m on seven year terms, demonstrates the strength of the business and its recurring income streams, “ St Modwen said.
Chief executive Bill Oliver said: “Our robust business model and our practical, hands-on approach to development and asset management have enabled us to perform consistently well throughout the year and build on the strong results produced in 2011.
“We view the positive reaction to the retail bond as a clear endorsement of the attractions of our track record, our ability to generate development gains and our income producing portfolio, and are confident that we are well placed to continue our strong performance to the benefit of all our investors.”
