On 27 July 2020 St James Securities (SJS) signed an Agreement with Derby City Council for a new Public Square (next to the old Debenhams) at a cost of £1.8m. In its 2021 accounts SJS stated that completion would be April 2023. After having spent 6 months, and £0.7m of public money, it still appears that there is much work to do within the remaining budget of £0.6m… and just a few weeks to go. Officially, Derby City Council is now saying that completion will be “Spring 2023”.

The vision is…

Demolition of the Central United Reform Church commenced in March 2021 and was completed by May 2021 at a cost of £0.5m. Work on the Public Square didn’t start until September 2022.

The demolition costs were about 50% of the entire Becketwell Performance Venue + locality site ( Pennine Hotel, Colyear Street Office block, car park, night club and adjacent buildings)

The cost of landscaping this area, after the demolition works will be £1.3m.

Comment

Projects that take longer than planned tend to cost more than the budget, however, in theory at least, that overspend will have to be absorbed by SJS. Like the Becketwell Performance Venue, this project is on a fixed price Forward Funding Agreement (FFA) with Derby City Council. This will be the first test of the Council’s resolve on applying the strict contractual terms of the FFA – will they enforce any overspends on SJS?

The SJS “Group” had, at 30 September 2021, net assets of just £1.7m. As the Derby City Council / Becketwell scheme is SJS’s only “customer” ( since 2018) then opportunities for income/profit are very limited. Phase 1 ( 259 apartment block on the site of the old Debenhams) is under a £37.375m SJS FFA with Grainger Land and Regeneration Limited which is also, according to SJS, due for completion in April 2023 ( or “early 2023”)! That’s looking tight!

At the current rate of expenditure, completion of the Public Square will be more like August/ September which would be best described in Council-speak as “late Summer” rather than “Spring”.