During this time, we have helped the HCA to deliver housing and economic growth by taking a lead role in the development of some of the organisation’s most important sites and through our involvement in numerous panels.

Local Infrastructure Fund

As part of Government strategy to support housing and commercial development, the Local Infrastructure Fund (LIF) provides commercial loans to facilitate the delivery of infrastructure on Enterprise Zone schemes and to accelerate large scale housing developments.

We provided due diligence support to the HCA on over £50m of LIF applications, carrying out assessments and development appraisals, reviewing financial implications and making clear recommendations as to whether the schemes proposed were economically viable.

Custom Build Fund

The Custom Build Fund aims to stimulate the growth of the Custom Build Homes market and assist in the delivery of smaller custom build projects by providing development funding on commercial terms. 

We provided due diligence and valuation advice to the HCA on a number of Custom Build projects across the North West of England, drawing on our successful work on the HCA’s Get Britain Building Project.

Our high-level integrated service and development advice assisted the HCA in meeting its residential and economic development objectives.

English Cities Fund Review

We were appointed by the HCA to undertake an assessment of five nationwide projects being delivered through the English Cities Fund. The mixed use projects included schemes in Wakefield, Salford, Liverpool, Canning Town and Plymouth that were all at various stages of development.

We carried out a detailed review of the schemes and related development agreements, advising on the reasonableness of the assumptions as well as the risks and issues relating to the development proposals. We also assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the schemes in order to provide a comprehensive assessment of the future prospects and opportunities.

As a result of our advice the HCA extended its role in the ECF until 2021 which will lead to the delivery of further phases of development across the portfolio of sites. In addition to this, our advice also allowed HCA to understand the impact of a range of future development and disposal strategies.                

HCAi – Recoverable Investment

HCA Investments (HCAi) has recently appointed us to a panel of consultants who will be supporting them on due diligence for the numerous recoverable investment programmes HCAi are currently involved in. These programmes include Builders Finance Fund, Large Sites Infrastructure Fund, Local Growth Fund and Estate Regeneration Fund. These funds are in place to provide developers of various levels finance to deliver new housing and commercial developments. This work will ensure that HCAi is only making investments in sound development proposals that are viable and able to repay the loans in the required period.