FOI - Sale of Fizzy East 16, 15 Silvertown Way [Jul 2022]

Your request

Please could you confirm whether GLA Land and Property have been involved in the long leasehold sale of Fizzy East 16, 15 Silvertown Way, London, E16 1JT:

1. When was the property sold?
2. Was the price achieved £9,694,083?
3. Did you have agents represent the GLA as part of the transaction?
4. Who was the purchaser? Did they have agent representation?
5. Was this a cash purchase or was there financing involved with the deal?
6. Were there any other relevant sale conditions that we should be aware of?

Our response

The Silvertown Way site (now branded as Brunel Street Works) is a GLA Land and Property Limited (GLAP) freehold site. The development rights were subject to a Development Agreement between GLAP and Galliford Try and Lindon Homes (they subsequently underwent a restructuring and the JV is now known as Opal).

The Development Agreement was entered into following a procurement process via the London Development Panel. Opal subsequently sold part of the development to Fizzy Living which is a provider of private rented housing. It is to this transaction that the request refers.

The responses below relate to GLAP’s arrangement with Opal:

1. The Development Agreement was signed in June 2015
2. The price paid by Opal to GLAP is commercially confidential.
3. The GLA was not part of the negotiation of the transaction between Opal and Fizzy.
4. The purchaser of GLAP’s interest was Galliford Try and Linden Homes and this was subsequently updated to Opal.
5. The details of the financing of the acquisition from GLAP is confidential.
6. The Development Agreement set out a series of development obligations relating to the scheme.

The information you require for parts 2 and 5 of your request are exempt from disclosure under Section 43 (2) (Commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). This provides that information can be withheld from release if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person, including those of the GLA.

A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity. The GLAP portfolio is subject to wider development plans. In order to make these developments viable, commercial discussions are required with third parties who support the GLA in developing the areas. During these discussions the land and assets values will be negotiated. The GLA’s position would be prejudiced should this information become public knowledge and would be likely to undermine our ability to achieve best value for future sites.

Section 43(2) constitutes a qualified exemption from our duty to disclose information under the FOIA and consideration must be given as to whether the public interest favouring disclosure of the information covered by this exemption outweighs the public interest considerations favouring maintaining the exemption. The GLA acknowledges that there is a public interest in the delivery of land transactions and the amount the GLAP has been able to achieve. However, it is not in the public interest to release information which would be likely to prejudice the position of our partners in future negotiations and any procurement exercises.

Further, we consider it not to be in the public interest to release information that would be likely to affect the GLAP’s position in future negotiations and reduce the GLA’s ability in securing best value for the public purse. We therefore find that the public interest is balanced in favour of non-disclosure because of the harm its release would cause.

Further details regarding the general value of assets held by the GLAP can be obtained from the accounts of GLA’s property company, GLA Land and Property Limited.

If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting reference MGLA240622-3717.