Trowers & Hamlins is delighted to have acted as lead advisers to Breckland Council on a new form of property joint venture, Breckland Bridge Limited with the Land Group LLP.

Trowers & Hamlins is delighted to have acted as lead advisers to Breckland Council on a new form of property joint venture, Breckland Bridge Limited with the Land Group LLP.

This will achieve the much-needed revitalisation of Thetford town centre by developing a new cinema, hotel, restaurant and retail units and improved public realm on the Riverside site, as well as the development of new residential sites in Attleborough and Mileham.  Following the successful delivery of those sites, there is the potential to develop up to 142 other sites across Breckland.  This partnership will allow the Council to meet future development, infrastructure and housing  needs in the area.

Trowers & Hamlins advised Breckland District Council on all the stages prior to and during the procurement of the private sector investment partner the Land Group LLP. Specifically, the firm advised on all aspects of local government and public procurement law, as well as corporate structures, funding documents and drafting and negotiating documentation with bidders and their lawyers.  The firm worked closely with the Council's project team to ensure elected members were fully briefed throughout.

Helen Randall, Public Sector Commercial partner who led on the deal, commented:  "This project is particularly innovative because the joint venture has been uniquely structured as an evolved and more sophisticated variant from the standard local authority asset backed vehicle to give the Council more flexibility, greater certainty of delivery and the ability to apply a funding model which provides better value for money than traditional LABVs.  This structure is particularly suitable for areas with lower property values and is more scalable to smaller and rural districts than a traditional LABV model."

In addition to Helen Randall, the Trowers & Hamlins team advising Breckland Council included partner Lucy Doran, partner Ian Dobinson, partner Paul McDermott and senior associate Patrick Morris.