Case studies

Guildford Borough Council brought us in to replace a Big Four firm as finance lead for its Weyside Urban Village regeneration programme.

The programme sought to deliver around 1,500 new homes, new community facilities and a new council depot on a Thames Water site, with a total cost of £467m.

We produced the development appraisal, assessed the project's viability, and identified the funding and disposal solutions needed to make it deliverable.

What we did

• Development appraisal and viability assessment for the whole programme
• Funding and disposal strategy
• Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) application, grant claims and ongoing monitoring
• Enterprise M3 LEP funding application and monitoring
• Access to discounted PWLB borrowing
• Ongoing financial modelling and cashflow management

Haverly Consulting has provided ongoing financial support to Guildford Borough Council including financial modelling and analysis, ongoing cashflow management, submission of Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) grant claims, and preparation of viability appraisals. This work has been fundamental to the development of the scheme.

We provide Waverley with detailed, independent development appraisals that strengthen the business case for delivering new homes on council-owned sites.

Each appraisal tests the scheme's hurdle rates and default values and benchmarks them against best practice, so decisions rest on assumptions that stand up to scrutiny.

Our independent reports have strengthened the Council's business cases for investment, helping it advance the delivery of new homes and appraise acquisition opportunities with confidence.

What we did

• Detailed development appraisals for council-owned sites
• Assessment of hurdle rates and default values
• Benchmarking against best practice
• Independent appraisal of acquisition opportunities

The team at Haverly Consulting Limited has consistently delivered high-quality services. Their independent reports have strengthened our business cases for investment, enabling us to advance the delivery of new homes on Waverley-owned sites and confidently appraise acquisition opportunities.

Gosport faces particular challenges around development viability. In a One Public Estate commission from Portsmouth City Council, we helped Gosport Borough Council find new ways to turn its old housing depot into new homes.

At the time, Portsmouth City Council's management team also ran Gosport Borough Council, so the commission came through Portsmouth.

Conventional approaches would not make the scheme stack up, so the Council needed to consider innovative ways to achieve development.

Working through the One Public Estate programme, we identified options that made the redevelopment of the old housing depot into new homes a viable reality.

What we did

• Viability analysis of the depot site
• Identification of innovative delivery and funding options
• Options to overcome viability barriers

Nick has good experience of housing and regeneration issues and good technical financial skills to identify issues around viability and how to overcome them. This is an incredibly useful skill set when dealing with issues that were being looked at as part of the local OPE programme. Through this OPE commission Nick was able to identify potential ways forward that helped overcome the challenges faced.

A 42-year institutional funding solution that enabled Westminster to acquire 368 homes it previously leased for temporary accommodation.

Volatile nightly accommodation costs were replaced with structured, index-linked payments, giving the Council long-term control of supply and unencumbered ownership of the homes when the lease ends.

The structure also embedded £33.5m of retrofit funding to improve the homes.

What we did

• Led the funding structure
• Financial modelling and appraisal
• Retrofit funding built into the deal

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A £50m sale and leaseback between Westminster City Council and its own pension fund, releasing capital from 124 temporary accommodation properties.

The Council sold and leased back 124 existing TA properties to a council-owned LLP, funded by a 40-year, index-linked loan from the Pension Fund that matches the fund's own long-term liabilities.

The capital receipt can be reinvested in additional TA supply, while the Council keeps full use of the properties under the leaseback.

What we did

• Designed and led the funding structure
• Council-owned LLP arrangement
• Matched the fund's liability profile

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