Pinsent Masons advises on major housing investment in London Borough of Newham

With advice from Pinsent Masons, Pension Insurance Corporation plc (PIC) made the £83 million forward investment, in partnership with LBN, to fund the construction of the homes. The properties will be let to Newham Borough Council, forming a key part of LBN’s housing strategy, which seeks to actively manage the financial and social implications of the area’s housing shortfall.

The investment will fund the regeneration of a brownfield, industrial site near London City Airport and will permanently re-home local families. Up to 50% of the properties are intended to be affordable housing, generating considerable social value.

Structured under a Regeneration Lease, the development will provide secure, good quality, environmentally friendly housing for residents currently in temporary accommodation, as well as providing rental income for LBN. It will also provide PIC with long-term, inflation-linked cashflows which will be used to pay the pensions of its policyholders over coming decades. Under the agreement LBN has the option to purchase the properties for £1 at the end of the 50-year lease.

Led by real estate partner Mike Reid, Pinsent Masons advised PIC on all real estate, construction, planning, tax and public law matters.

Commenting on the project Mike said:

“This is a really exciting project, which will deliver significant social value to the Borough and provide many families with much needed secure accommodation. It has been brilliant to work with PIC throughout and help them to ensure the success of such a positive investment.”

James Agar, Head of Long Income at PIC, said:

“We are pleased to have completed our second Regeneration Lease investment, which will help LBN tackle the financial costs and the long-term social impact of the housing shortfalls within the Borough. As purposeful investors we need our investments to provide secure cashflows to back our pension payments to our policyholders over the coming decades, so it’s vitally important that they generate considerable social impact in the short term and value in the long term. I look forward to working with LBN and our development partners Reef on this important development.”

The Pinsent Masons team working on this also included, senior associate Emma Truss, legal director Kofi Atta, senior consultant Richard Croker and associates Vicki Yeoman and Chandni Pattani.