Our Group.
HISTORY – A TIMELINE TO TODAY
1950’s to 1980’s
The original company was first established by the grandfather of current Directors – John and Stephen Rosefield and developed further by their father. That company acquired a stake in in Estates & Agency in 1978 and John Rosefield was appointed a Director.
1980’s
In 1980, John Rosefield became Chairman of Estates & Agency Holdings Plc, a company listed on the LSE .In 1981 the Company acquired Edgbaston Investment Trust Group and grew considerably through the acquisition and development of further properties including substantial premises on Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street and Whitfield Street, W1.
In 1984, the Group acquired a significant stake in Western Motor Holdings Plc– a quoted motor dealership with sites in Birmingham and across Devon and Cornwall. John Rosefield was appointed Chairman of that company and through his leadership, the business was nursed back to financial health, with the stake being sold in 1987 at a value of almost five times its purchase price.
Throughout the rest of the 1980’s, Estates & Agency Group continued to acquire numerous property opportunities including major developments and refurbishments of two shopping centres in Glasgow and an office development in Birmingham as well as becoming a major investor and developer in important commercial and historic buildings in Belgium, Holland (particularly Antwerp) and Germany.
The former Marsh Mills Industrial Estate in Plymouth was taken through a complex site assembly operation and planning re-designation from industrial to retail use, before being sold to J. Sainsbury in 1993 for approximately £18m at a profit of approximately £13m.
1990’s
Similar refurbishments and developments continued to add value to the Estates & Agency Group through the 1990’s including a substantial development project in Rainham, Essex for Carpetright’s Headquarters and the major refurbishment and redevelopment of the properties in Whitfield Street, Goodge Street and Tottenham Court Road, London, W1.
Throughout this period the Estates & Agency Group continued to acquire prime London property. In 1997 the iconic Old Westminster Library in Great Smith Street, SW1 was acquired and permission later obtained for use as a restaurant with the upper floors sold and converted to residential use. The ground floor and basement were retained by the Company and were successfully refurbished and established as the famous destination restaurant The Cinnamon Club. During this time, the Group was also successfully involved in more than 100 smaller residential redevelopments.
2000’s
With increasing regulation and costs, and the Company’s shares standing at a discount to net asset value, it was decided in 2004 to take the Company private. This was part of the trend at that time, adopted by several of the smaller quoted property companies. Stephen Rosefield was appointed a full-time Director in 2008.
The Group continues to operate as a private company wholly owned by The Endeavour Company Holdings Ltd – a Rosefield family holding company.
The Group also sold its 2 shopping centres in Scotland prior to the 2008 banking crisis, leaving it in a comfortable position to withstand the impact of that crisis.
2010’s
The Group expanded its activities establishing two new areas of business. Firstly, in 2010, we incorporated a strategic land company E&A Strategic Land LLP to promote and deliver strategic sites through the planning process. The wider Group’s expertise, together with its commercial, financial, legal and planning resources enable us to provide support and stability over the medium to longer term for its Strategic Land promotion and development projects. Its objective is to enable the provision of much needed residential homes and associated facilities in the south of England.
Secondly, we established a property and land acquisition and trading company in 2012 – E&A Securities – to undertake short to medium term property refurbishment and development opportunities, both alone and in partnership. The Group’s expertise in commercial, financial, legal and planning sectors enable us to unlock maximum value in this area.
The Estates & Agency Group has been involved over several years in the refurbishment and redevelopment of residential and mixed-use projects with residential developer Regal, who we have supported through more than 100 successful projects. This relationship expanded in 2017 with a shareholding in the company the company.
Having previously redeveloped a 9-acre site in Barking from an industrial estate to a retail park, which became known as Abbey Retail Park, the Group sold the site to Eco World for a major build to rent development, with the remainder of the site being sold to Weston Homes Ltd thus enabling the provision of a total of an additional 1684 homes in Barking.
Axtell House, The Group’s property just off Regent Street, London W1 was redeveloped incorporating office space and a rooftop garden and let to the VF Corporation, an US NYSE quoted company, owning brands such as The North Face, Timberland and Vans. This development won the prestigious West End Office Agents’ Best Scheme Award for Developments under 35,000 sq ft
Strategic land sites were sold at New Romney, Kent and Old Hamsey, Lewes, East Sussex.
2020’s
The Group consolidated and refinanced its borrowings obtaining a 12 year facility at a fixed rate of interest of 2.24% pa.
A new Tesco Express store has been developed in Goodge Street, London W1 together with the construction of a 7500 sq. ft. of new office space at 38 Whitfield St, London W1 incorporating end of journey shower and bicycle facilities both for the new office space and the wider Goodge Street/Tottenham Court Road office complex.
The Group continues to upgrade its property portfolio on a regular basis.
Future plans include the redevelopment of the Group’s Property at Flitcroft House, London WC2 for which planning permission has been obtained including for an additional approximately 5.000 sq. ft. of office space. In addition, a number of planning permissions are in the pipeline in relation to the Group’s strategic land business including a “placemaking” application for the first phase for 2000 homes with ancillary facilities in Horndon St. Marys (West Horndon), Essex as part of a larger development to come forward in future years which will accommodate up to approximately 10,000 new homes with ancillary facilities such as schools, transport and medical facilities.