Local asset backed vehicles: The potential for exponential growth as the delivery vehicle of choice for physical regeneration

Abstract

Nearly half the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England have now adopted the use of local asset backed vehicles (LABVs) as a means to manage and/or develop their property holdings. In doing so, they have collectively invested over £400m of property in 50/50 partnerships with leading private sector regeneration experts such as Igloo Regeneration Ltd. Given the RDAs property holdings represent less than half a per cent of those held by local authorities (£1bn compared with £230bn), the potential impact on the regeneration sector if local authorities embraced this new approach to regeneration could be enormous in terms of leveraging in private sector finance, heralding a new culture of genuine partnership between the public and private sectors and catalysing a paradigm shift in the quantum and quality of physical regeneration in the UK.