Member Article

Council contract wins propel Eddisons public sector property and land portfolio to £1bn

A string of local authority contract wins for Leeds-based property consultant Eddisons, via the firm’s status as a newly approved supplier on the Government’s Crown Commercial Service (CCS) estate management services framework, has increased the gross development value (GDV) of the public sector land and property on which it advises to over £1bn.

Since October last year, Eddisons’ dedicated public sector team has added Cambridgeshire, Reading and Dudley councils to its list of local authority clients, which also includes Southampton, Enfield, Blackpool, Peterborough and Kirklees councils.

Reading Borough Council has appointed Eddisons to bring the site of its former Civic Centre, which was demolished in 2016, to the market this summer through a formal procurement process. A major development opportunity, the site is expected to attract high levels of interest from prospective investors. Reading is considered the ‘business capital’ of the Thames Valley, and is due to be linked directly to Heathrow via the new Elizabeth line rail link.

The firm has also been appointed by Dudley Council to provide land assembly advice, combining adjacent parcels of land to form a single site, on the town’s multi-million-pound Portersfield and Castle Hill regeneration schemes.

Eddisons’ head of public sector Javid Patel said: “As local authorities and other public sector organisations increasingly turn to Eddisons for fresh ideas and new direction on stalled capital projects and masterplans, we are rapidly building a reputation for bringing innovative new thinking to problematic portfolios and development sites.

“As we emerge from the pandemic, clients are seeing immense value in appointing us as an alternative adviser in areas such as build to rent (BTR), residential, extra care housing, commercial portfolios and town centre regeneration. We look forward to growing our market share in the public sector still further as part of our wider strategic business plan.” Eddisons was confirmed as an approved supplier on the CCS estate management framework in summer last year following a rigorous selection process. The framework is available to all UK public sector bodies when commissioning real-estate advice.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Kilmurray .