Acting on behalf of overseas investors, we are pleased to announce the purchase of another site to add to our fast expanding property portfolio. The site, amounting to 0.57 acres, is located at 86-88 Upper Richmond Road, SW15 2ST situated opposite East Putney tube station.  The area is currently occupied by a seven storey vacant 1960’s office building which we are planning to demolish for a landmark development project.

Oracle Residential’s Land Director Scott Hammond said: “Oracle plan to create a landmark building of high quality design and integrity, delivering the highest environmental and sustainability standards.  The location and aspect of this site, with far reaching views North into Central London, alongside a major transport hub, gives us the opportunity to deliver one of the most exclusive residential schemes in South West London.  We are proposing a mixed-use building of retail, offices and residential, including affordable housing.  A planning application will now be worked up, following an extensive pre-consultation period with all the relevant stakeholders.”

We are extremely pleased to announce Watford Borough Council have granted us outline planning permission for a mixed-use development in Cow Lane, on the outskirts of Watford. The scheme will include 223 residential units, 1,580 sq m of B1 office space, a childcare facility for forty children and a gym.

All of the existing buildings on the site will now be demolished and the site, formerly used as print works by Sun Chemicals Limited, will be remediated.  The planning consent was granted subject to a Section 106 Agreement with a contribution from Oracle of £800,000 towards the cost of local highways improvements, including two new access roads onto Cow Lane, community improvements to local library facilities, public open space, children’s play areas and youth and childcare facilities in the town.

We believe the scheme will revitalise a brown-field site with a comprehensive mix of accommodation, including a significant element of affordable housing, which will deliver a diverse and vibrant community.  As well as being in a prime location for residential development in the town, the development is also on a key route linking central London to Watford town centre with good public transport connections and within walking distance of local amenities.

A detailed planning application for the scheme, which has a Gross Development Value of £60 million, will now be worked up for submission to the council later in the year.

Scott Hammond, Land Director, said: “Oracle has considerable experience in dealing with complex sites where knowledge of regeneration and planning issues is essential. We have worked closely with Watford Borough Council and the local residents to produce an exciting scheme that will create a new neighbourhood.”

The Epsom-based private developer, set up eight years ago by David Burke, has unveiled plans for the £305m mixed-use scheme on the former Indescon Court site on Millharbour, E14.

The 30-storey scheme will comprise 950 homes, a hotel, shops and offices.

It will also serve as the new regional offices for Oracle Residential’s London & East Division, the first of five regional offices to be set up in the UK, by the company, 90% of Phase I of the development has already been sold off plan, through Oracle’s joint venture partners on the development, Galliard Homes.

The scheme is part of Oracle’s plans to become the third biggest developer in the Docklands area behind Canary Wharf and Ballymore.

Chairman and founder, David Burke, said: “We have around 13 acres of development land in the Docklands area, which puts us in the top three landowning developers in the area, along with Ballymore and the Canary Wharf Group.
“In the last eighteen months alone we have spent a total over £430m on land acquisitions.  

Darryl Flay, Chief Executive of Oracle Residential, said: “We aim to be in the top ten house builders in the UK by 2012, building 2,500 units per annum.”

Residential developer Oracle and Galliard Homes has been given planning permission for the second phase of their £305m Indescon Court scheme in Canary Wharf.

The go-ahead has been given for two 32-storey mixed-use towers in Millharbour Road, comprising 546 flats, an apart-hotel and leisure and retial.

The first phase, incorporating 362 homes across five buildings of up to 16 storeys, is under construction and has been sold off-plan.

When complete the development, which was designed by architect Hamilton Associates, will comprise 910 apartments.

Darryl Flay, managing director of Oracle Residential, said: “For the second phase of Indescon, our team worked in close consultation with the local authority and all stakeholders to ensure we met all planning requirements before submitting our planning application.

“This strategy enabled us to secure a committee approval within 13 weeks of submitting a detailed planning application.”
 
Earlier this year, Oracle secured £90m funding from the Royal Bank of Scotland for the first phase of development.

We have now completed on the purchase of a 4.5 acre site in Millharbour, Docklands, our largest acquisition since the company was formed in 2002.

The former 1980’s light industry business complex, Indescon Court, will be redeveloped into a £300m mixed-use development comprising residential, retail, leisure and a hotel. 

Property consultancy King Sturge, who acted for us in the purchase of the site, claim this could be the biggest land deal for 2006 in Canary Wharf.

The £300 million mixed-use development of 730,000 sq ft was granted outline planning permission for a two-phase scheme in June 2004.

A group of overseas investors represented by ourselves are planning a £25.7m residential scheme, following the £7.5m purchase of a 3.2 acre site in Silvertown, East London.

The site, which was bought from Dencora (Docklands)is occupied by 22 industrial units covering 14,000 sq ft and two storage yards.
The investors plan to eventually clear the site and pursue planning permission for a 500 unit residential scheme.

Planning permission was granted today at Committee for the Pavilions development at Uxbridge.

The planning application, which was approved by Hillingdon Council comprises of the refurbishment of two vacant office blocks to 160 apartments.
Work is due to start on site in February 2007.

We have recently acquired an office building at 8-12 Welbeck Way, W1 for our own occupation. The 5000 sq ft (603 sq m) building was acquired on a long leasehold for £4.9 million.

We decided to acquire the four-storey mews building on a 999 years to serve as the London base for our commercial and residential divisions. The continued expansion of both businesses has created the need for a strong London presence.
The building will undergo a £900,000 refurbishment programme, which is expected to complete in the summer of 2007. The renowned designer Mary Fox Linton has agreed to add her touch to the reception and lobby areas of the new headquarters.

David Burke commented “this new office is a fantastic showcase for the Group as well as a solid investment transaction. We look forward to welcoming our friends and associates to a launch party in the near future.”

Oracle Group has sold a pub site on the Isle of Dogs to Irish residential developer Glenkerrin for £32m.

The developer, run by David Burke, has sold the 0.6 acre London Docklands site, which houses the City Pride pub, for £32m, which is nearly five times more than the £6.75m Oracle paid for it 12 months ago.

Oracle has already started negotiations with the local planning authority over securing permission for a 50-storey residential tower at the site with an end value of £240m.

Glenkerrin was attracted to the site because of its proximity to its other residential development, the Forge.

The sale means Oracle now has a £80m equity war chest, which it hopes to be able to gear up to invest in further development opportunities.

Oracle has added value to the site by negotiating a surrender of pub tenant Glendola Leisure’s lease.