Stuart Buckley, Managing Director at Warwickshire Property & Development Group (WPDG), reflects on a busy end to last year and how it has positioned the company in a strong position to carry out its ambitious plans in 2025 and beyond.

Last year we were honoured to be named Newcomer of the Year at the Insider Property Awards for our first three years in business.

At times, with the amount we have achieved already, we feel far from being a newcomer.

However, the reality is that we are only three years on since entering the regional property and development landscape.

That perspective is really important to us as an ambitious company which is committed to growing sustainably whilst  delivering value for our shareholder, Warwickshire County Council (WCC).

With a focus on our foundation goal of realising the value and economy activity from Warwickshire County Council assets for the benefit of residents in Warwickshire.

We have achieved a significant amount in the last 12 months and are set to do so again this year, with a lot of groundwork being done across the team in January to ready us for the year ahead.

RESIDENTIAL

As we came into 2025, our residential delivery is in a fantastic position with the Develop Warwickshire joint venture (JV) flourishing and an excellent pipeline of our own direct delivery homes.

One of the key goals we set out on launching the company, alongside Warwickshire County Council, was to deliver new affordable and market-priced homes for people in the county.

We are doing just that. The Develop Warwickshire JV, in partnership with Warwickshire County Council and Vistry Group, is off to an excellent start.

This is exemplified by the delivery at Top Farm in Nuneaton, with the JV now having secured planning approval for more than 500 homes at the site, providing a mix of housing types with 25% of those properties being affordable homes.

At Brookmill Meadows the first residents have moved into their homes, the very first to live in a Develop Warwickshire home.

Having a major JV up and running and delivering new homes in just 2 years is only one side of the story.

This year we will be focused on building up the WPDG-led activity at residential development sites across the region. We will soon start building the first homes at Manor Park, in Nuneaton, with our partner Seddon Housing and have been given the green light for up to 30 new homes in Bulkington. There are also a further two direct delivery sites in the pipeline as we continue to deliver housing in line with local needs.

COMMERCIAL

This time last year we celebrated the completion of our first commercial scheme, Sucham Park, a 42,200 sq ft industrial development in Southam.

In the year since, we have worked with our partners Bromwich Hardy to secure tenants for the units. We are now fully let at Sucham Park, with the final tenants moving in over the course of this month.

With excellent demand for high-quality small unit space in the region plans have now been submitted for our next scheme, which will be located on Fusiliers Way between Warwick and Leamington Spa. If approved this will see the development of 16 units across 43,000 sq ft of commercial space to support SMEs and local businesses.

We are developing a pipeline of sites which can provide high-quality space to give SMEs the space to grow and thrive in Warwickshire.

ASSET MANAGEMENT

While most of our public-facing work is on the development side, another key service we provide for the County is generating growth across its existing commercial portfolio with our dedicated asset management team.

WCC appointed Warwickshire Property Management Ltd (WPM), which is part of WPDG, to manage the lettings on hundreds of Council-owned properties.

Our team has worked tirelessly to establish and improve the relations with tenants and has undertaken over 100 lease and rent review events providing additional income to WCC and long term security to both businesses and community groups.  This includes working with new and existing tenants on the Stratford Greenway, Pooley and Ryton Country Parks together with a range of Farm Business Tenancies.

We will be continuing that good work on asset management activity over the coming year realising added value for the Council.

 

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We’re all set for another active and exciting year at WPDG.

It is important that all our activity continues to support the communities that we work in, whether that be through working with communities to provide the right housing mix at our sites for local needs, or ensuring we are supporting growing businesses with the small-unit space they need.

We are in a positive position for growth and will continue to deliver work which brings significant economic and community benefits to Warwickshire.

 

 

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