The Instruction

Alder King was initially appointed by a private landowner to negotiate the exercise of an option agreement with Hallam Land.

Our Approach

After a period of negotiation, the parties could not agree on a mutually acceptable purchase price.  A common outcome of such circumstances is to follow a dispute resolution process where the price is determined by a third party expert or arbitrator.  Such a process is often expensive, time-consuming and has an uncertain outcome, often benefiting the developer.

In the particular circumstances of this case, it was agreed between the parties that the most appropriate manner of determining the price would be to undertake an open marketing of the site (effectively converting the option agreement into a promotion agreement).  The revised arrangements included combining a cohesive adjoining parcel of land, also controlled by the developer, which formed part of the planning permission.

Alder King offered the 14 acre site to the market with the benefit of an outline planning consent for 170 residential units, including 30% affordable housing.

Outcome

Alder King recommended and implemented a marketing and disposal process which consisted for a competitive tender to a pre-selected list of parties known to be actively seeking development opportunities of a similar scale in the location.

Alder King prepared analysis of proposals, and in conjunction with the developer and landowners, conducted interviews and interrogated the proposals, ultimately recommending the selection of Curo Enterprises with whom terms for the sale were negotiated and agreed.

The transaction took less than 10 weeks to completion from the date of agreed heads of terms and resulted in a land price equating to £1.5 million per acre.