Former council offices at Gloucester Docks to be sold
The city council vacated the warehouses in 2019.
Last updated 5th Oct 2023
The sale of Gloucester City Council’s empty warehouse offices at Gloucester Docks – which had previously been planned to become a new luxury hotel – is set to be approved by civic chiefs next week.
The city council vacated Herbert, Kimberley and Philpott (HKP) warehouses in 2019 and the site was earmarked for development.
And now councillors are set to authorise council chiefs to continue negotiations with interested parties and accept an offer for the leases at HKP.
It is currently unclear who the preferred bidder is and what the future use of the buildings will be but officers have assessed four new bids.
A council report recommends that the most viable and deliverable bid has been made by “developer C” and that the authority’s appointed agents be asked to prepare initial heads of terms and seek to achieve a deposit if an exclusivity agreement is signed.
They say ideally a down payment should be required on agreement to lease, if a planning application is needed, and the full balance within 30 days of receipt of a satisfactory planning consent.
“Developer C has submitted a scheme that accords with the council’s aspirations, is in accordance with independent advice and has the lowest risk profile in the present market conditions,” according to next week’s cabinet meeting report.
“The developer has an excellent local track record for delivery and this bid should result in the necessary funds being paid to the council earlier than any other bid,” the report goes on to say.
Deputy leader and performances and resources cabinet member Hannah Norman (C, Quedgeley Fieldcourt) said: “The council has a long-term aspiration to dispose of the HKP Warehouses, which used to be the council offices.
“The redevelopment of these warehouses, along with the opening of the Food Dock, will be another important step towards the complete regeneration of the docks area of the city.”
The previous preferred bidder’s plans for HKP included a hotel opening on site. The preferred bidder entered into detailed negotiations with hotel operators, cost consultants, architects and planning advisors together with potential funding institutions.
However, the onset of Covid-19 severely restricted the potential hotel operators and funders especially for refurbishment of older buildings.
There was little activity during 2021 and hence detailed discussions with the preferred bidder once Covid had subsided led council officers to doubt that a planning application would be forthcoming in an acceptable time frame.
There was still no hotel operator willing to engage, no funding available and the options put forward were unviable.
The preferred bidder was unable to proceed during 2022 and due to this uncertainty negotiations were brought to a close at the end of 2022.
City council officers then instructed Bruton Knowles to remarket these premises with a wide use opportunity.
The authority received two offers initially and two further expressions of interest which resulted in an extension to the time frame being granted to all four bidders until April 30, 2023.
The offers vary widely in their value and proposed use, and all are conditional on various assumptions and events, some to an unacceptable extent in the opinion of officers. In order to undertake due diligence and financial checks on the bidders, officers requested further details, plans and viability assumptions but only two bidders were able to provide such further information within the required time frame.
A third bidder undertook some further investigation and produced a revised bid but this was not received until the end of July 2023. Cabinet will consider the bids and decide which to proceed with at their meeting on October 11.