Nottingham City Council has announced it is to purchase a stake in Blueprint – the successful, multi-award-winning Nottingham based developer that specialises in the development of sustainable homes and workspaces.
The city council is purchasing the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) 50 per cent share in the joint venture development company and will be a partner alongside Aviva Investor’s Igloo Regeneration Partnership.
Originally set up in May 2005 for 10 years to facilitate physical regeneration in the East Midlands with the Igloo Partnership and managed by Igloo Regeneration and Aviva Investors, Blueprint has a strong focus on some of Nottingham’s key regeneration projects.
Councillor Jon Collins, Leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “The city council’s investment in Blueprint, in partnership with igloo, will enable a highly successful local developer to continue to contribute to the city’s success.
“At the same time the deal gives the city council direct input into the delivery of our regeneration priorities, both now and into the future, through the development of sustainable homes and employment space in the city.”
Aviva Investors Fund Manager, Luke Baker said: “We are pleased to welcome Nottingham City Council as a partner into Blueprint. We are excited about the potential of this relationship with one of England’s Core Cities and we are keen to continue to bring forward development projects and to invest in the city”.
Christine Addison, the HCA’s Executive Director for the Midlands, said: “Our purpose is to help local partners and people to achieve their ambitions by building more homes and growing successful places. The Blueprint joint venture has a very strong focus on some of Nottingham’s most important regeneration projects, so enabling the city council to take on our stake in the company gives them direct input into the delivery of those priorities into the future. The purchase will allow Blueprint to carry on helping the city to meet local needs, building on the excellent work we’ve done as partners over the last 10 years.”
Blueprint Chief Executive and Vice Chairman of Igloo Regeneration, Nick Ebbs, said: “Our partnership with the city council will enable us to create a framework to unlock the potential of some of the biggest regeneration sites in Nottingham and the region – and speed up the delivery of that regeneration.
“We will also be working together to identify and develop new sites in ways that will reflect Blueprint’s established reputation for ‘place-making’ – creating new communities and neighbourhoods in Nottingham and beyond.”
Successful Blueprint projects in Nottingham over the past decade have included the construction of No.1 Nottingham Science Park in University Boulevard and a series of energy-efficient residential developments in The Meadows, including Green Street.
Architect-designed homes at successive developments at Green Street and at the nearby Hobart & Pitcairn site near the Trent have proved highly popular with buyers, sparking fresh interest and creating cohesive new communities in a traditional redbrick part of Nottingham.
The same winning formula is now about to be applied to the £35m development of Trent Basin on the north bank of the river. This highly ambitious scheme will see the creation of 160 homes and an entirely new community in an area of Nottingham’s Waterside.
The Trent Basin regeneration project also forms part of the city council’s vision for the wider waterfront area, which will help create new employment, leisure and residential development opportunities as part of the council’s overall vision to better connect the city to its waterfront and to unlock the potential of large areas of underutilised land between the city centre and the River Trent.