Top 50 clients: 9-16

9 English Cities Fund

• Public/Private Investment Vehicle
• Area of operation: England
• Key people: Lesley Chalmers, chief executive [pictured]; Sir Michael Lyons, chairman

Why listed?

• For ground-breaking model bringing private sector funding into regeneration

Lesley Chalmers

English Cities Fund is a public/private venture created to identify opportunities to attract institutional and private investors into urban regeneration. It only works in areas that have been awarded ‘assisted area status’ by the government and is limited to investing £50m at a time on a project. Chief executive Lesley Chalmers describes ECF’s strategy as “to take on areas that have got a really poor image”. One such area is Millbay in Plymouth - a partly redundant harbourside area next to the city centre. The hope is that it will kick-start regeneration beyond the boundaries of the project. The judges said: “ECF is a very interesting project and they are working on a lot of models. Definitely worth watching.”

10 Barratt

• Housebuilder
• Area of operation: national
• Key people: chief executive, Mark Clare; Peter Murphy, technical director; Richard Reynolds, founding regional managing director until retirement

Why listed?

• For its involvement in government-backed programmes, from Design for Manufacture to Housing Market Renewal

Barratt East London was among the divisions singled out for praise by our voters – not only has it been a long-standing player in the Docklands area, but it also remains one of just two Barratt “super-divisions” with an output of around 1,000 homes a year. Nationally, the housebuilder’s sites extend from a mixed-tenure, mixed-use scheme in Brighton to housing market renewal in Rochdale under the Base joint venture with developer Artisan. The company is set to grow its activity in regeneration. Following its acquisition of Wilson Bowden, Barratt will increase its output from almost 15,000 homes a year to around 20,000. Perhaps more importantly, Wilson Bowden’s commercial expertise gives the company the capability to produce large-scale mixed-use regeneration.

11 English Partnerships

• Delivery agency
• Area of operation: national
• Key person: chairman, Baroness Ford

Why listed?

• For driving industry progress through initiatives and programmes like the Carbon Challenge

The national regeneration agency is entering a period of dramatic change, with its merger with the Housing Corporation and rebranding as Communities England imminent. Under chairman Baroness Ford the agency has gathered momentum, dynamism and entrepreneurial skill.

The results of that are obvious: over the year 2005/2006, the agency recorded £836m of investment in its programme, a new high, and programme receipts were up 31% on the preceding year at £280m.

Housing starts were up 66%, completions up 28%, employment floorspace up 122% and private sector investment up 38%.

It has more than 20 programmes and initiatives, the most recent being the Carbon Challenge, a contest to deliver zero carbon housing.

The simple fact that many housebuilders and developers now win awards for development carried out within the context of English Partnerships’ programmes is testament to the agency’s influence on industry.

12 Berkeley Group

• Housebuilder
• Area of operation: south of England
• Key person: group managing director and co-founder, Tony Pidgley

Why listed?

• For leading in residential-led regeneration

Berkeley Group has showed the industry how to take brownfield sites, often with a mix of problems, transform them into high-quality living environments and produce a healthy profit. The company still carries out more development on brownfield land than any other top 10 housebuilder. Among major successes are Gunwharf Quays, a retail, residential and leisure scheme in Portsmouth that has taken more than a decade to deliver. Berkeley is now developing the final phase, an 18-storey residential tower (above) 10 years after it won planning approval for the first phase.

13 Crest Nicholson

• Housebuilder
• Area of operation: the South and Midlands
• Key people: chief executive, Stephen Stone. Divisional director for regeneration, Chris Tinker

Why listed?

• Enlightened thinking on design and zero carbon

For this company sustainability is a word that applies to whole communities. Sure, the company develops environmentally friendly homes – in its case to zero carbon standards in partnership with Bio-Regional Quintain on sites in east London and Brighton. But it also develops schemes with green travel plans (at Poole Quarter), mixed tenure (at Park Central, Birmingham), and mixed use (at The Atrium in Camberley). One voter noted: “Their large-scale regeneration projects lead the field in design quality, environmental, social and economic sustainability.” Another praised divisional director of regeneration Chris Tinker: “He is an enlightened thinker and a proactive force in promoting sustainable regeneration.”

14 Liverpool Vision URC

• Delivery agency
• Area of operation: 12 action areas in the city
• Key person: chief executive, Jim Gill

Why listed?

• For driving massive development activity and investment into the city, including Liverpool One

Liverpool Vision was the first ever urban regeneration company and has proved an advertisement for the delivery route. Our panel praised the efforts of the URC and its leader, Jim Gill. It has driven some £3bn of investment into the city centre which is now host to Europe’s biggest retail-led regeneration project, the Liverpool One project being undertaken by Grosvenor. There are plenty of other schemes going on in the city, including Kings Waterfront, where Liverpool Vision is working with English Partnerships and others to promote the development of an arena, an aparthotel and housing. The first phase, the Wilkinson Eyre-designed Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre, is due to complete next January at the start of Capital of Culture year.

15 Urban Splash

• Developer
• Area of operation: national
• Key people: chairman and co-founder Tom Bloxham; chief executive and co-founder, Jonathan Falkingham

Why listed?

• For its design-led approach to development

Think back to the early 1990s. At that time city living was largely a London phenomenon and developers in the capital were hesitant about building elsewhere. Entrepreneur Tom Bloxham and architect Jonathan Falkingham had no such hesitations about carrying out their first project on their North Western home patch, and so Urban Splash was born. The company made its name with mixed-use schemes in Manchester and Liverpool that rescued old unwanted buildings but sold urban living as the ultimate modern style statement. The company now works in cities across the country, applying its design-led formula to a range of old buildings such as the Dunlop tyre factor in Birmingham.

16 Coventry Council

• Local authority
• Area of operation: Coventry
• Key people: Stella Manzie, chief executive; John McGuigan, director of city development

Why listed?

• Into its first year of a five-year regeneration programme that will see £8bn of public and private money invested in the city

“In 1980 55% of the population was employed in manufacturing. Now it’s just 5%. No other city faced the scale of challenge we did,” says Coventry council’s director of city development John McGuigan. As result of having to overhaul its economy, McGuigan says Coventry is probably “a decade behind bigger cities in terms of physical regeneration”. This is all being rectified now however with £8bn due to be spent in the city on infrastructure, schools and other key projects by 2012. Our judges approved, saying: “It has made a big fightback against its bigger neighbour Birmingham.”