The Lucent Group, which specialises in strategic land development in high growth areas throughout the United Kingdom, is pleased to announce the establishment of a UK office in the City of Winchester, Hampshire. The office is a subsidiary of Lucent Advisors Limited, headquartered in the Isle of Man, which acts as advisor to the Lucent Strategic Land Fund.
The Winchester office is strategically located to allow the Group to take advantage of international and domestic transport links so that it can both effectively manage its expanding portfolio of projects throughout the country and also be close to the City of London institutional investor market.
The Winchester office will act as Lucent Advisor’s Project Management Centre offering asset advisory and project management services to the various projects the Group is undertaking. Its establishment comes at an exciting time for the Group.
The Allerdale Investment Partnership, a joint venture with Allerdale Borough Council, is expecting a determination on its first planning application, a 250 unit residential development, by the end of 2014. Several further planning applications will be submitted on the Partnership’s portfolio of sites in the near future.
In North Lincolnshire, work is progressing on the Lincolnshire Lakes development and a planning determination is anticipated later this year. Work is expected to start on the site in early 2015.
In Southampton, just 20 minutes away from the new office, a project team is already progressing the Royal Pier Waterfront Planning Application which will be submitted in Q1 2015. The initial round of public consultation is due to start this month.
Lucent has identified a project pipeline in excess of £50 million and is expecting to announce further acquisitions before the end of 2014.
Speaking about the new office, Chief Financial Officer Richard Quirk said “We are delighted to be opening an office in Winchester. This is an important step in our company’s evolution and underlines the importance we place on Southampton’s Royal Pier Waterfront project. The establishment of the office in the UK will provide effective support for the growing number of land projects that Lucent is bringing forward for development. Furthermore, it gives us an international hub with close proximity to the City of London.”
The Group’s administrative and broker functions for the Lucent Strategic Land Fund will remain unchanged and stay with the Isle of Man headquarters.
The Winchester office will be fully operational by the end of June 2014.
For Elena Santiso