Global property firm, CBRE, has announced a new £20 million Evergreen Urban Development Fund for the Cheshire and Warrington area.
The fund will provide development finance through loans and investment capital for projects in the region. The initiative will support building facilities for research and development, and support energy efficiency. £5 million of the fund has also been set aside to target business support and create spaces for SMEs to grow and develop.
The fund for Cheshire and Warrington is the third Evergreen Urban Development Fund in the North-West from CBRE, which have catalysed over £500 million of developments in the region. The new fund will be a flexible tool for CBRE to invest in the potential within Cheshire and Warrington.
It is hoped that the fund will support sites where development has stall because of financing, and retrofit existing sites with new, low-carbon technologies.
Financing is supported by a grant from the European Regional Development Fund to deliver £20 million of investment within the next three years, with investment capital returned to be reinvested in future projects.
Will Church, Senior Director at CBRE Capital Advisors said:
There has been a long-term lack of debt for developers in the region. We have supplemented this to some extent with the original Evergreen Fund but this complementary fund, specifically for Cheshire and Warrington, will add to the support of economic growth we have been able to bring to the region in the last eight years.”
Philip Cox, Chief Executive of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP said:
This fund is a strong fit with our Strategic Economic Plan, and emerging Local Industrial Strategy and will help place Cheshire and Warrington at the forefront of Clean Growth with our pivotal role in decarbonising the northern economy.”