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24th March 2007
Estates Gazette Magazine

In the Spotlight
Discretion abandoned

The normally media-averse Bluemantle is in the headlines as it starts a new strategy of development. David Thame reports.

The Caldwells have become unashamed. Bluemantle, the discreet family property business run by Jim Caldwell, 62 and son Mark, 33, is no longer such.

Amid a blaze of local newspaper headlines, the firm is bidding for a chance to develop a £130m mixed-use scheme in Bolton, has a 40-acre scheme about to start in Howich, and a string of other projects in  Preston, Radcliffe and Disley, as well as in its home town of Alderley Edge.

With a £130m investment portfolio behind it, the company is midway through transforming itself from an inconspicuous industrial specialist into a fully fledged developer of highly visible mixed-use schemes.

The big test for its new strategy comes in Bolton. The Church Wharf scheme involves a joint bid with Manchester-based Ask Developments, a firm that does not shy away from publicity. On the face of it, the scheme is precisely the kind of business the unassuming Caldwells might have been expected to avoid.

That view would be a mistake. Bluemantle’s partnership with Ask is one of the cornerstones of its expansion plans. As well as developing jointly in Bolton, it has teamed up with Ask for the £80m Church Place scheme in Preston. This will include 100,000 sq ft of office space, 10 bars and restaurants and 225 flats. Further joint projects are likely to follow.

What Bluemantle gets from the partnership is a mix of development, publicity and political skills – skills for which Ask is famous, and which are vital if high-profile mixed-use schemes are to stand a chance of success.

The relationship began thanks to former AMEC executive and Redrow commercial boss Simon Isherwood. Isherwood knew the Caldwells and was a former colleague of Ken Knott, an ex-AMEC man and now chief executive of Ask. With his help, a deal between the two firms was brokered.

According to Mark Caldwell, the alliance is a perfect match. “We have a lot more confidence than Ask has in pitching for properties and then buying them. That’s because we have a background in investment. It means we take a view, and providing it doesn’t mean we are losing money, it’s ok for us to buy. It’s the kind of thing our business is set up to do,” he says “Ask, on the other hand, is set up to develop. So if you put the two together, then we have an ideal match.”

The deal with Ask is based on a series of 50:50 joint ventures. Both parties are putting up the same amounts of cash, with the important proviso that Bluemantle is happy to make speculative acquisitions where needed.

Strong Position

The Caldwells are already in a strong position in Bolton. Thanks to some sage advice from local surveyor Nick Swift, the firm has been quietly landbanking in the 11-acre Church Wharf area for the past two years. So far, it has spent £3m acquiring the main commercial frontage and a large site in the centre of the development area.

Its proposal involves 350,000 sq ft of offices, 40,000 sq ft of restaurants, another 15,000 sq ft of retail space, a cinema and as many as 400 flats.

Naturally, Bluemantle would have preferred the council to decide against organising a competition and simply sign up too Bluemantle’s plans. But it was not to be.

“The council decided to go for competition, although we’d been talking to them about the master plan, and it would have been great to have a run at this on our own,” Says Bluemantle associate director John Leighton, “But that’s not the way things are done any more. If we win preferred developer status, we will be in a position to agree some quick acquisitions of other parts of the Church Wharf site, without the need for compulsory purchase. We’d hope to be able to move on site acquisition within three months – and I hope the council understands that we can deliver.”

A shortlist of developers will be published in the spring.

According to Mark Caldwell, the Church Wharf scheme is just the start of its ambitions for Bolton. “We’ve got between 40 and 50 acres at Howich, within sight of Orbit’s Middlebrook scheme, and we’re keen to enjoy some of the success Orbit has enjoyed,” he says “If that came off, and we’re working on it now, that would be a £250m scheme.”

Now the business is moving up another gear. “It’s not so much a change of strategy as a change in scale,” says Caldwell.

New ventures include Wigan’s Greenbank Business Park- a site Bluemantle acquired from Ingersoll Rand three years ago. The Caldwells aim to develop the site further, and already have an area marked out for industrial use.

There are also plans to provide a £20m town centre for the Bury suburb of Radcliffe, redevelopment in Wythenshawe and hopes of a big Manchester city-centre acquisition.

So how have the Caldwells transformed themselves from low-key property investors to unashamed property developers?

If owning the building in which cult Channel 4 series Shameless is filmed counts towards being unashamed, then they have it in spades. The 66,000 sq ft Aviator industrial unit in Wythenshawe was leased to Company Pictures last month, soon after Bluemantle bought it.

Bluemantle has not abandoned its past.

“One of our challenges for the next two or three years is to mix development with investment,” says Caldwell. “We’ve got to get back to that, and it would be nice to buy some better-quality properties, too. I’ve come across a great many investment opportunities as a developer, and it’s a shame not to take advantage of them.”