Ballymore Ltd., is the owner of the land and intended developer of Brentford town centre. We have been looking for any indication of Ballymore's readiness to start the development, by searching out the current business news on Ballymore.
First we looked under Ballymore’s ‘future projects’ on their website ballymore.co.uk. Brentford centre development doesn’t get any mention, but their High Point development at Hayes, Middlesex is mentioned.
The latest news from the Brentford High Street Steering Group was their meeting with Mary Macleod MP, 15/10/2010, to discuss the report from their one day workshop. This report formed a ‘Consolidation Plan’, in effect a draft master plan framework to inform future development, albeit having no status in planning terms.
Looking around the news, it seems Ballymore have financial problems, which maybe affecting their plans for Brentford Development:
An article in The Irish Independent (17/10/2010) Irish projects escape in London and Berlin suggests developers with projects in London may emerge successfully from the wreckage of the property crash.
“While Ballymore's discussions with NAMA are also ongoing, the British capital may also be its saving grace. Some 85 per cent of its business is now there and it claims it has a better portfolio than any other developer in London. Having retained a large landbank near the site of the new US embassy in London, which it will be helping to develop, the firm is also seeing steady sales at its Pan Peninsula complex beside Canary Wharf.”
An article in Estates Gazette (21/5/2010) American dollars help revive NAMA-backed Ballymore says that Irish banking officials have decided to back rather than bankrupt Ballymore's UK operations.
“Ballymore is generally seen as the over-confident Irish developer which bought a great deal of off-pitch land in the UK earlier this decade - and so is consequently in deep hock to the Irish bad bank, NAMA. To some extent that is true, the business 98% owned by the media-shy Sean Mulryan made a £115m loss in the year to March 2009 in the UK and had towering debts of £1.7b.”
An article in The Irish Independent (17/5/2010) Ballymore's UK arm has £115m loss but rebound is predicted.
“ The UK arm of Ballymore Properties suffered losses of more than £115m (€135m) in the year to March 2009 but will post "considerably improved" results for the financial year just gone, founder Sean Mulryan said at the weekend. The UK loss was revealed in accounts just filed for Ballymore Properties Holdings (BPH) and came as the company suffered a 42pc fall in turnover and booked £99.6m of impairment charges on its property portfolio.
The accounts also show BPH closed its 2009 financial year reliant on its financial institutions to "continue to renew terms, extend facilities and waive covenant as deemed appropriate" on the group's £1.7bn debt pile.”
There are a lot of articles on The Wharf website about Ballymore’s development activity in London’s Docklands
I wonder what the latest schedule is for the development?
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As Ballymore's town centre development, continues to stall, ISIS press ahead with their Planning Application for the Commerce Road development opposite Brentford Lock. See article on BrentfordTW8. Download this very attractive report (Note: 196Mb pdf)!
An article in the Irish Independent (6/11/2010) Mulryan eyes up disposals to generate fresh capital says:
"Sean Mulryan's (Ballymore) European property company plans to sell off assets and look for alternative sources of funding to generate fresh working capital and reduce debt.....Ballymore has prepared a financial plan to the end of 2012, which is based on several key assumptions, including getting fresh funding. The accounts state that the group will realise sufficient cash through new financing sources/and or property disposal transactions during the course of 2010 that will enable it to meet its working capital and other commitments as they arise."
I wonder if they include the Brentford Centre property in the assets they are considering to sell off?
In the Victorian days of the architect Thomas Henry Nowell Parr who designed many great buildings, in Brentford in his distinctive style of red brick with terracotta decoration, Brentford council must have had much more power than today to direct the builders for the benefit of Brentford town.
