A rosy Prospect

One of the North West’s best kept secrets in property development and investment is on target to turnover more than £13 million this year – with ambitions to treble it within three years.

Established in 2000, Prospect (GB) Ltd is now a leading national residential and commercial property developer. The company is currently celebrating six years of phenomenal growth and an expansion to new offices in Warrington.

Prospect (GB) Ltd is a subsidiary of Liverpool-based The Riverside Group, one of the UK’s leading social housing and regeneration organisations. The company is unique to the sector in that it ploughs back money raised from its developments into its not-for-profit parent company, which owns or manages around 50,000 homes throughout England.

Chris Heath, managing director of Prospect (GB) Ltd, says: “For the first five years we worked on establishing the business. The next five-year plan is all about ambition and we’ve had a phenomenal start. We expect to turnover £13 million in 2007/08 and we’re on schedule for £22 million in 2008/09 with plans to hit about £40 million within five years.

“But despite Prospect’s tremendous growth and high profile projects we still seem to slip under most people’s radar. It’s time people took a closer look at us because we’ve got huge plans for more developments and more property investment, which obviously means we welcome hearing from decision makers with land and property to sell.”

The company has doubled its staff and the team of experienced professionals is central to the success and continued development of the business.

At the moment Prospect (GB) Ltd is on site with three residential developments including flagship city-apartment ventures in Manchester’s Salford Quays and in Nottingham.

After expanding its development portfolio 18 months ago to include commercial projects, Prospect has completed and agreed terms on its first commercial office scheme in Sheffield. The company will shortly commence work on three new commercial ventures in North Wales, Stoke and South Liverpool.

The firm also has a sizable property investment portfolio including assets in Leicestershire, Sheffield, Chester and Manchester.

Chris says: “As the residential market has become more crowded we made the decision to also move into commercial development. It was a natural progression to make because we had the experience, calibre and flexibility. Our capability to adapt remains very important to us; we don’t want to be pigeon-holed because we want to remain flexible and fleet-of-foot. It has worked really well for us and has given us the edge to continue our successful growth.”

As part of its ongoing expansion plans this month (May) the company moved to prestigious new offices of 3,358 sq ft on the Trident Business Park in Risley, Warrington.

Chris says: “In terms of access the offices are in a good strategic position and we wanted a location and environment that reflected our corporate image and ambition. The offices themselves provide a professional place for our team to work and the necessary space for further expansion of the business.”