Midlands Property

It appears that one of Birmingham's most famous statues  - the Bullring bull - is getting into the Diamond Jubilee spirit by wearing a union flag costume to mark the historic event.

The 7ft 3in bronze statue, which has become the 'face' of Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre, surprised shoppers today with the makeover.

Designed by professional costume designer Nicola Teale, the bull will be adorned in the outfit right through the summer for both the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the impending Olympics.

A very patriotic bull indeed...!

As the debate on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) comes to the fore, and the property industry raises concerns that CIL may put regeneration schemes at risk, Stuart Andrews, head of planning and a partner at law firm Eversheds, helps navigate the CIL minefield.

The introduction of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charging schedules by many local authorities is now gathering pace, as is demonstrated by the Mayor of London's CIL charging schedule which came into force on 1 April 2012. We have yet to see much progress in the Midlands, but local authorities are clearly gearing themselves up and this is reflected in the impending consultation exercise by Birmingham City Council. As a result, developers can expect a significant increase in the cost of development, but the complexity of the CIL regime also has the potential to cause unexpected difficulties when dealing with complex development schemes.

For example:

1. CIL has been widely reported as a tax on the net increase in floorspace of new developments, but in practice existing buildings may still be subject to the charge where they have been out of use for significant periods before the development is permitted.

2. Where a section 73 application alters details of a development after construction has begun, but before it is completed/has been used for a period of time, the entire development could incur fresh retrospective CIL charges.

3. If a section 73 application is made, landowners and developers could be forced to pay for the same infrastructure twice in the form of a CIL charge on top of a planning obligation.

4. The discretionary exemption where CIL charges would make a development scheme unviable will virtually never apply.

5. If different rates apply to different areas of a site, the location of social housing and the reliefs from liability which accompany it could significantly alter the total cost of CIL affecting the site as a whole.

6. Where several parties own different parts of the same development site, liability for CIL payments will be proportionate to the relative value of each interest in the site - the collecting authority's calculation of the relative value of these different parts of the site is likely to be controversial.

7. If a party assumes liability to pay CIL and defaults on its payments, the liability will fall back on the owners of the site. Therefore, landowners will want to ensure that liability is assumed by a party with sufficient covenanting strength and that robust indemnities are provided to protect against such circumstances.

In short, the CIL regime is a minefield and navigating your way around the charges is rarely likely to be straightforward.

As the debate on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) comes to the fore, and the property industry raises concerns that CIL may put regeneration schemes at risk, Stuart Andrews, head of planning and a partner at law firm Eversheds, helps navigate the CIL minefield.

The introduction of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charging schedules by many local authorities is now gathering pace, as is demonstrated by the Mayor of London's CIL charging schedule which came into force on 1 April 2012. We have yet to see much progress in the Midlands, but local authorities are clearly gearing themselves up and this is reflected in the impending consultation exercise by Birmingham City Council. As a result, developers can expect a significant increase in the cost of development, but the complexity of the CIL regime also has the potential to cause unexpected difficulties when dealing with complex development schemes.

For example:

1. CIL has been widely reported as a tax on the net increase in floorspace of new developments, but in practice existing buildings may still be subject to the charge where they have been out of use for significant periods before the development is permitted.

2. Where a section 73 application alters details of a development after construction has begun, but before it is completed/has been used for a period of time, the entire development could incur fresh retrospective CIL charges.

3. If a section 73 application is made, landowners and developers could be forced to pay for the same infrastructure twice in the form of a CIL charge on top of a planning obligation.

4. The discretionary exemption where CIL charges would make a development scheme unviable will virtually never apply.

5. If different rates apply to different areas of a site, the location of social housing and the reliefs from liability which accompany it could significantly alter the total cost of CIL affecting the site as a whole.

6. Where several parties own different parts of the same development site, liability for CIL payments will be proportionate to the relative value of each interest in the site - the collecting authority's calculation of the relative value of these different parts of the site is likely to be controversial.

7. If a party assumes liability to pay CIL and defaults on its payments, the liability will fall back on the owners of the site. Therefore, landowners will want to ensure that liability is assumed by a party with sufficient covenanting strength and that robust indemnities are provided to protect against such circumstances.

In short, the CIL regime is a minefield and navigating your way around the charges is rarely likely to be straightforward.

The East Midlands ramped up the glamour last night for the annual EG Regional Awards and RICS East Midlands Awards bash for 2012.

The elegantly turned out winners of the coveted awards picked up their gongs from yours truly and had a celebratory glass of bubbly or two in the process.

Over 200 guests attended the 12th annual gala dinner and awards ceremony at Nottingham's Belfry Hotel. ITV Central weather presenter Emma Jesson presented the RICS East Midlands Awards for 2012, while I handed out the RICS Regeneration gong (won by Clay Cross scheme, Derbyshire) as well as the trophies to the winners of the Estates Gazette's Regional Awards for the East Midlands 2012.

Miller Birch's Peter Gadsby, Mark Bielby and Charles Smyth once again picked up the trophy for East Midlands Property Company of the Year. This is the second win of this award in a row for the Derby-based, privately-owned developer.

Equally worthy of an award, was fellow winner Innes England which scooped the accolade of East Midlands Property Advisor of the Year 2012. Tim Garratt, Craig Straw and Kirsty Scott were there to receive the award on behalf of the team.

Meanwhile, votes flooded in for Althorp House (the ancesteral home of Princess Diana) conservation project in which picked up the RICS's top gong for overall East Mids winner as well as the building conservation award for the conservation of the historic property.

So congratulations to all. Here are some pictures from the evening just click on the link below. Full coverage of all the regional winners will appear in a future edition of EG.

In the second of our series of elected mayor referendum specials, Nottingham-based Tim Garratt, director at Innes England, gives his view on the much-anticipated referendum on 3rd May and what it could mean for the East Midlands' capital.

Nottingham is one of the selected cities where there's a referendum on 3rd May to decide whether to elect a mayor. If the answer is 'yes' then the city has a vote in November. A mayor would follow.

The city council got into hot water after spending taxpayers money on a 'no' campaign. The leader of the council is fundamentally opposed to the suggestion - principally (I believe) as it will take away some of his power and certainly some of his status.

We have entered a period of small-time politics and spin, in my view. Leaflets delivered talk about the costs (£1m plus) without any detail as to how this is made up! It's all rather negative.

2012 is a new world. The landscape we work and live in has changed beyond belief - and perhaps the time has come for a new way of working.

Nottingham's private sector is keen to see Nottingham punch above its weight. Inward investment is something close to the property sector's heart. A mayor could help with this.

Look what Boris Johnson has done for London - he has raised the profile of the capital city.

Nottingham has an opportunity to raise its game. Prime minister David Cameron is offering a place at the table twice a year for a Mayors Cabinet. Can Nottingham (as a core city) afford not to be there?

My problem with all of this is that the debate is being downplayed. The "yes" campaign only started with less than three weeks to go. The campaigning has had little airing which is a great pity.

I see the mayor as a great opportunity. We should embrace it wholeheartedly. The present leadership won't agree, because turkeys have never voted for Christmas...

What are your views on elected mayors? Please feel free to leave your comments below.

In just over two weeks citizens of Birmingham, Nottingham and Coventry go to the polls to decide whether to have a directly elected Mayor. These much-anticipated referenda on May 3rd will also be held in 7 other UK cities. 

In the Midlands many question marks still hang over the issues of what powers the new elected mayors may have, what policies will come to the fore and - perhaps most interestingly for the property industry - what influence these new figureheads will have over the planning regime. 

In a series of special guest blog posts, we get property insiders views from Birmingham and Nottingham about the campaign and what it could mean for the regions' cities

In the first of these guest blog posts, Martin Field of Birmingham-based public affairs company RJF, gives his views...

The entry of former treasury minister Liam Byrne into the contest to be Birmingham's first elected mayor has catapulted the issue at last into the mainstream. 

The prospect of elected mayors in England's major cities is now no longer of concern only to political nerds and the chattering classes in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and elsewhere. The fact that a former cabinet minister is considering leaving Westminster for the regions has elevated the status of local government at a stroke.  

But Byrne's move - and the subsequent coverage in the national media - has done little to move the debate beyond the personalities in play and the party political shenanigans that have ensued. 

What about the policies, the actual powers - both 'soft' and 'hard' - that will be wielded by elected mayors in some of the core cities in just a little over six months' time? It's highly likely that citizens in Birmingham and other cities will vote for the change in referendums on May 3. Leicester, of course, is already a mayor-led city. 

The question of powers is a tricky one, with the government's Localism Act - which triggered the mayoral referenda - infuriatingly coy about exactly what extra authority and money mayors will have. The government expects and hopes that mayors will be the dominant actors when it comes to regional transport and infrastructure projects. This raises interesting questions for a property industry still absorbing the implications of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Will mayors - some of whom may be new to politics - seek to influence planning decisions on the ground, when the legislation gives them no more authority over planning committees than currently exists for council leaders? 

And, given the example of Crossrail in London, will mayors seeking grand projects implement Community Infrastructure Levies (CIL's) like they're going out of fashion?

The answers will only become clear as we move beyond the referenda on May 3 and into the mayoral election campaigns proper, when the policy platforms of candidates are opened up for scrutiny.

What is clear, however, is that the nature of politics and government in at least some of the UK's major cities is set for a shake up more radical than any seen in the past 100 years.

RJF Public Affairs' Martin Field has over 25 years experience in the property industry, specialising in planning, development and the residential sector. Management consultant Field is based in the Midlands, providing inward investment, local government policy and public affairs advice to both national and international clients through The Urban Consortium. He is also a member of the UK executive committee of the global non-profit research and education organisation Urban Land Institute. Field has been deputy chairman of Marketing Birmingham, is chairman of the Chicago-Birmingham Sister Committee and is a former member of the advisory panel for Locate in Birmingham. He is co-founder of RJF Public Affairs, which counsels organisations on issues of public policy where legislative, regulatory or governmental decisions could affect their operations, prospects or value.

What are your views on elected Mayors? Please feel free to leave your comments below. 

Pic courtesy of wwarby via Flickr.com

Here's an exclusive first look (see pictures above and below) at the plans to revamp the 134,000 sq ft Five Brindleyplace building formerly occupied by BT. Joint venture partners Hines and Moorfield are to transform this Birmingham flagship office block later this year - as highlighted in Estates Gazette's news pages tomorrow.

I met up with Hines' Igor Mathias and Moorfield's Jeremy Marchant last week to talk strategy for the building and the wider Brindleyplace estate. It was immediately clear that number Five had been a priority for the duo since it acquired eight buildings on the estate for £190m in July 2010 (numbers Three, Four, Five, Six and Nine, a multi-storey car park, Costa Coffee and the Crescent Theatre).

How refreshing to see Nottingham hitting the headlines in a good way and all the more pleasing that my good blogging colleague Jackie Sadek is partly responsible. Jackie's day job is CEO of UKR, the organisation that supports urban regeneration. I discovered that something exciting was up when our paths crossed in Nottingham a couple of months ago, but, consummate professional that she is, she didn't give away too many details.

Now we know that UKR is pioneering what it hopes will be the first of many of a new type of urban villages. What is interesting about the Sandfield scheme (and the concept) is the focus on private rented accommodation as the resi element of the mixed-use development. This sector has long had an image problem, so if Sandfield succeeds in moving perceptions away from sleezy, greedy landlords and scuzzy, poorly-maintained properties to affordable, funky modern living the benefits will be felt far beyond the East Midlands.

The Midlands as a whole will definitely benefit though, with plenty of former industry-dominated run-down areas gagging for a regeneration makeover. There are benefits for the commercial property market, too. Confident and well-supported neighbourhoods are a draw for the reliable workforces that form the backbone of our modern economy, so for this, and many other reasons, I for one will be keeping a hopeful eye on Sandfield's progress and keeping my extremities crossed that what started in Nottingham will be replicated elsewhere.

EGi broke the news exclusively yesterday (ahead of the announcement by Birmingham council due later this week at MIPIM), that Seven Capital has cleared the final hurdle to bring forward a £100m redevelopment of the Fiveways shopping centre and Auchinleck office tower sites in Birmingham.

The investment firm has won consent for the second phase of the project - transforming the run-down Fiveways shopping centre which sits at the Fiveways end of Broad Street.

This is good news. Birmingham desperately needs more conferencing facilities and with 100,000 sq ft of said space planned, this will be a real fillip for the city.

With this second phase connecting into the first - the transformation of the tired, old 102,000 sq ft Auchinleck House office block into a new 300 bedroom hotel, the project could rejuvenate this neglected site which sits at the gateway to Brum's prime leisure pitch - Broad Street.

I say could, because this site has unfortunately had a number of false starts thus far.

Back in February 2008, Birmingham Properties Group and Mars Pension Fund, managed by Lasalle Investment Management, planned a £100m plus mixed-use scheme to comprise a 120,000 sq ft office block, a four star 200-bedroom hotel alongside a 136-bedroom budget hotel, a 200 flat student accommodation block with shops and private flats. However, plans were dropped owing to the economic downturn.

Mars had originally planned to sell off the entire site in 2002, but had a series of false starts with various development partners, including Taylor Woodrow, Frontier Estates and Dandara.

Fingers crossed that we will finally see the development this important gateway site so richly deserves.