黑洞社区

Consultants Capita Symonds and DTZ are vying for a contract to take over the management of around 拢400m worth of the National Grid鈥檚 estate, with a decision on which firm has bagged the job expected imminently.

黑洞社区 understands the consultants are the last two standing in the race for the National Grid contract, which will see the winning bidder take over the management of around 560 of the electricity infrastructure operator鈥檚 properties, thought to be valued at around 拢400m.

The partner will be responsible for managing nationally all lettings, asset management, small and medium site sales as well as and town planning work for sites, National Grid said.

Announcing the procurement last November, National Grid said the company had decided to move away from working with multiple portfolio advisers, each covering different parts of the country and different sectors, and instead take on a partner that would act as an 鈥渋ntegrated real estate adviser鈥�.

National Grid said this would 鈥渋mprove efficiency by reducing operating costs, maximising rental income, accelerating site sales and delivering overall portfolio performance improvements鈥�.

鈥淲orking with one adviser means we can also develop a more comprehensive and complete vision of the entire portfolio, which will allow us to identify strategic portfolio opportunities,鈥� National Grid said.

National Grid鈥檚 estate is made up of 600 surplus brownfield sites, many of which were once former gasworks - the around 40 sites not part of the contract offer more high value opportunities and will remain within the management of the National Grid鈥檚 joint venture model.

National Grid has said this will focus on delivering greater value from sites such as Southall, Isle of Grain, Battersea and Northfleet working with private sector partners, with opportunities being prepared to bring them to the market this year.

Over the past 15 years, National Grid has been working to clean up its estate, secure planning consents, remediate sites and undertake site sales. To date this has generated around 拢1.7bn of proceeds.

A National Grid spokesman said: 鈥淔ollowing an extensive selection process, National Grid will be in a position to announce the selected company in late April 2012.

鈥淣ational Grid is not in a position to announce its choice or comment on any speculation before the process has been concluded.鈥�