Manchester firm looking to restart new development as it gains investor and sells £77m property portfolio
Manchester-based regeneration developer Urban Splash has completed a corporate restructure designed to allow it to restart development work.
The firm, which had its redevelopment of the notorious Park Hill flats in Sheffield listed for the Stirling Prize last week, has retrenched from new development in recent years after being hit hard by the credit crunch.
The restructure will see a new holding company set up, Urban Splash Holdings Ltd, backed with investment by an unnamed private investor, with new subsidiary companies created which will be entirely free of the bank debt that has hampered the firm since 2008.
A spokesperson for the firm said the move did not entail administration for any part of the group, and the existing debts will still be held and managed by the original Urban Splash companies, under the new holding company.
At the same time the firm said it has also sold a portfolio of 654 apartments to social landlord Places for People for £77m in a move which will act to reduce the group’s £208m debt pile.
Urban Splash will be retained as managers of the portfolio.
The restructuring follows an increasingly difficult period for the firm, which is behind a string of award winning developments principally in the north and south west.
Its auditor added a note to it most recent accounts, publi