BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Review of the Year
12 | REVIEW OF THE YEAR
CK Asset Holdings, the group run by
the Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, and
the housebuilder Berkeley Group, are
some of the other interested parties in
the site, reported the
Financial Times
.
This news was followed in July by an
announcement from Capco, which
revealed the group would be splitting
its luxury Earl’s Court residential
development from its Covent
Gardenestate.
Under the proposals, the Covent
Garden business will be launched
as a central London REIT, while its
Earl’s Court business will become EC
Properties. The completion of the
demerger is expected by the end of the
year, subject to shareholder approval.
The potential sale and demerger come
after years of turmoil for the Earl’s
Court development, the story of which
dates back to 2007 when Stephen
Greenhalgh, Conservative councillor,
was elected as leader of Hammersmith
& Fulham.
It was during this time that
MrGreenhalgh began talking with
Capco and TfL – the largest landowner
in the area – over the redevelopment of
the 77-acre site – a prime piece of land
in the capital that straddles the London
boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham
and Kensington & Chelsea.
The plans for the site included the
demolition of the famous 1930s Earl’s
Court Exhibition Centre as well as the
joint West Kensington and Gibbs Green
council housing estates.
These were to be replaced with 7,500
homes, although the replacements
were criticised for not having enough
genuinely affordable housing. The
1,300 homes set to replace the
exhibition centre, for example,
contained no affordable housing.
An investment vehicle known as the
Earl’s Court Partnership Ltd was set
up in 2014 between Capco and TfL
to deliver the works, but its progress
was hampered by the local resident
opposition campaign Save Earl’s Court!
Further opposition has been seen
by the now Labour-controlled
Hammersmith & Fulham council and by
Sadiq Khan, Labour mayor of London,
who has been pushing for the return
of two council estates to the borough,
along with more affordable housing.
These woes, coupled with a major slump
in the high-end residential market, saw
in May the development lose half of its
value over the course of four years.
On May 31, Capco said its land holdings
in the Earl’s Court Partnership Ltd joint
venture had lost 10.5 per cent of its value
in the three months to the end of March.
This means that Capco’s share of the
site is worth £412 million, according to
property valuers JLL, down from a peak
of £803 million in 2015.
Set in the wider context of an acute
housing crisis that is taking place across
the capital, the Earl’s Court development
is considered by many as a case study
for bad regeneration, which has been
subject to politicalwrangling.
It is still under construction as
The
Parliamentary Review
goes to print,
with no end date to the development
in sight as of yet.
Capco is looking to
cut its losses and sell
its stake in the Earl’s
Court development
amid talks with Canary
WharfGroup
13JOHN SISK & SON |
CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING
CK Asset Holdings, the group run by
the Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, and
the housebuilder Berkeley Group, are
some of the other interested parties in
the site, reported the
Financial Times
.
This news was followed in July by an
announcement from Capco, which
revealed the group would be splitting
its luxury Earl’s Court residential
development from its Covent
Gardenestate.
Under the proposals, the Covent
Garden business will be launched
as a central London REIT, while its
Earl’s Court business will become EC
Properties. The completion of the
demerger is expected by the end of the
year, subject to shareholder approval.
The potential sale and demerger come
after years of turmoil for the Earl’s
Court development, the story of which
dates back to 2007 when Stephen
Greenhalgh, Conservative councillor,
was elected as leader of Hammersmith
& Fulham.
It was during this time that
MrGreenhalgh began talking with
Capco and TfL – the largest landowner
in the area – over the redevelopment of
the 77-acre site – a prime piece of land
in the capital that straddles the London
boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham
and Kensington & Chelsea.
The plans for the site included the
demolition of the famous 1930s Earl’s
Court Exhibition Centre as well as the
joint West Kensington and Gibbs Green
council housing estates.
These were to be replaced with 7,500
homes, although the replacements
were criticised for not having enough
genuinely affordable housing. The
1,300 homes set to replace the
exhibition centre, for example,
contained no affordable housing.
An investment vehicle known as the
Earl’s Court Partnership Ltd was set
up in 2014 between Capco and TfL
to deliver the works, but its progress
was hampered by the local resident
opposition campaign Save Earl’s Court!
Further opposition has been seen
by the now Labour-controlled
Hammersmith & Fulham council and by
Sadiq Khan, Labour mayor of London,
who has been pushing for the return
of two council estates to the borough,
along with more affordable housing.
These woes, coupled with a major slump
in the high-end residential market, saw
in May the development lose half of its
value over the course of four years.
On May 31, Capco said its land holdings
in the Earl’s Court Partnership Ltd joint
venture had lost 10.5 per cent of its value
in the three months to the end of March.
This means that Capco’s share of the
site is worth £412 million, according to
property valuers JLL, down from a peak
of £803 million in 2015.
Set in the wider context of an acute
housing crisis that is taking place across
the capital, the Earl’s Court development
is considered by many as a case study
for bad regeneration, which has been
subject to politicalwrangling.
It is still under construction as
The
Parliamentary Review
goes to print,
with no end date to the development
in sight as of yet.
Capco is looking to
cut its losses and sell
its stake in the Earl’s
Court development
amid talks with Canary
WharfGroup
Managing Director, North &
Major Projects Guy Fowler
An overview of
Wembley Park
Celebrating 160 years in operation this year, John Sisk
& Son has established itself as a leading construction
company across Europe. With an annual turnover of 1.2
billion euros, Sisk is currently working on a variety of projects,
ranging from the redevelopment of the old BBC studios in
Manchester to the phase-four contract for Great Ormond
Street Hospital in London. Guy Fowler, the Managing Director
of the North & Major Projects Business Unit in the UK, tells
TheParliamentary Review
about their focus on transparency and
how they have attempted to close the widening skills gap.
Established in Cork in 1859, we are a family-owned business, with the fifth
generation of our family currently working across the company. Formed as a
construction business, we have been operating in the UK since the early 1980s, and
construction remains our core focus to this day. While some of our large competitors
have diversified into other areas, we have remained focussed on our core business.
We are the biggest contractor in Ireland and are committed to providing the
best value for our UK customers. Our focus in the UK market is centred on
developing these customer relationships. We work on a variety of projects, all of
which contribute to our one billion euro annual turnover. These range from huge
infrastructure projects, supporting the likes of Quintain at Wembley Park who we
have worked with for 12 years, and the major redevelopment and restoration of
the Royal Academy of Arts in London, to smaller specialised jobs. We are currently
working on the redevelopment of the old BBC site in Manchester, one of the
largest development schemes in the northwest. In 2017, we were awarded the
FACTS ABOUT
JOHN SISK & SON
»Managing Director, North &
Major Projects: Guy Fowler
»Established in 1859
»Based in Dublin with three
operation hubs across the UK
in St Albans, Birmingham and
Warrington
»Services: Construction
»No. of employees: 1,400
John Sisk & Son
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett, MP
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP
