Severn Trent properties sold at LSH online auction

MIDLANDS utility Severn Trent has sold a former reservoir site in Worcestershire for £97,000.

The Coventry-based business also sold another three of its former sites at an online auction staged by property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH).

The redundant Severn Trent Water reservoir and building at Stonehall Reservoir, Stonehall Common, Kempsey, attracted 88 bids when it went under the virtual hammer in a 24-hour online auction.

LSH said the success of the online auction demonstrates that it is a credible method of sale for commercial property.

It launched the online platform to complement its existing ballroom auctions and partnered with Capita and Severn Trent Water for the inaugural sale.

Interest for the lots was received on a local, national and international scale, with the eventual successful bidders being private individuals or small companies from within the region.

Oliver Childs, head of auctions for Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “As online auction technology has improved, LSH decided the time was right to launch an online platform.

“This opens up the market to a much wider range of bidders, particularly individuals and local developers, who perhaps wouldn’t have been able to travel to an auction room or may have felt intimidated bidding in the traditional manner.

“Taking an auction online puts the bidder firmly in control in terms of privacy and convenience. This increases reach and competition, maximising the number of bidders and providing clients with robust selling prices.”

Adam Tustain, portfolio manager at Seven Trent, said: “We are extremely pleased to see the online auction was a success and proved to be so popular with potential interested parties, with 116 people registering and taking part in the auction.

“I have no doubt that we will be using this technology again in the future and we wish all the successful bidders every success with their new acquisitions.”