London,
10
March
2020
|
12:51
Europe/London

New £20m Urban Development Fund for Cheshire and Warrington

One of the UK’s fastest growing regional economies has been boosted today with the announcement of the new £20m Evergreen Urban Development Fund.

The resource will provide development finance, in the form of loans or investment capital to help build facilities that will unlock opportunities around research and development and support energy efficiency.

The fund will be managed by CBRE’s Investment Advisory team, part of CBRE Capital Advisors. It will complement the two established North West Evergreen Funds which the firm already manages which, since their inception, have been the catalyst for the delivery of over £500m of regional development with wide-reaching socio-economic benefits. The new fund is a bolt on that will provide a flexible funding resource for delivering targeted investment to unlock potential within the Cheshire and Warrington region.

The initiative is expected to help bring forward development sites that have stalled due to lack of finance. It will also be used to provide funding to either retrofit buildings with new low carbon technologies or for low carbon technologies to be installed on new builds. It excludes residential property and retail.

Investments will be broadly targeted in three areas:

  • £8m low carbon to fund energy efficiency property developments or retro fit existing property developments, including installation of solar panels, additional insulation, LED lighting
  • £7m research and innovation for new labs and technical spaces
  • £5m business support – for SMEs to grow and develop

The Cheshire and Warrington Development Fund, financed by a grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), will see an initial £20m of ERDF invested by the end of 2023. Investment capital will be returned by final recipients and the resources will be reinvested into further projects thus creating an Evergreen fund.

Philip Cox, chief executive of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP, said: “This fund is a strong fit with our Strategic Economic Plan, and emerging Local Industrial Strategy and will help place Cheshire and Warrington at the forefront of Clean Growth with our pivotal role in decarbonising the northern economy.

Will Church, Senior Director, CBRE Capital Advisors
There has been a long-term lack of debt for developers in the region. We have supplemented this to some extent with the original Evergreen Fund but this complementary fund, specifically for Cheshire and Warrington, will add to the support of economic growth we have been able to bring to the region in the last eight years.
Will Church, Senior Director, CBRE Capital Advisors